Marcos: PH buying more missiles from India, ‘but not for war’
The Philippines will procure more BrahMos supersonic missiles from India to boost the country’s defense against the “challenges” it is facing in the Indo-Pacific region.
“I’ve spoken to the officers and men who operate the BrahMos system and they say we need more,” said President Marcos in an interview with Indian news and media website Firstpost on Wednesday.
“We are in the process of actually procuring more,” he added.
Mr. Marcos is in the middle of his five-day state visit to India from Aug. 4 to Aug. 8.
Two years
It usually takes at least two years for the Philippine military to acquire a new weapons system from the planning stage.
The acquisition of new batteries of BrahMos missiles is not under the 2025 budget of the Department of National Defense (DND).
Should Congress approve a procurement of the missiles for the 2026 appropriations, the additional BrahMos missiles could be delivered to the Armed Forces of the Philippines by 2028 at the earliest.
Mr. Marcos maintained that the purchase of more BrahMos missiles, among other defense procurements, was merely part of the long-delayed upgrades in the AFP and not a preparation for war.
“The Philippines is in the midst of modernization of our military and so we are looking to see what’s most suitable for our defensive needs,” he said.
“Let me be clear, we are not gearing up for war, we are simply reacting to the challenges that we are facing,” he added.
First batch
The first batch of BrahMos missiles arrived in the country in April 2024, making the Philippines the first foreign buyer of the world’s fastest supersonic antiship missile system made by BrahMos Aerospace Private Ltd., an Indo-Russian defense contractor.
A second delivery of the BrahMos missiles was made a year later in April.
Three batteries of the P18.9-billion shore-based antiship missiles were acquired for the Philippine Marines after a deal was signed on Dec. 31, 2021.
The acquisition was part of the Philippine Navy’s Shore-Based Anti-Ship Missile Acquisition Project, first conceived as early as 2017 as part of the AFP’s modernization program.
Providing deterrence
The Philippine Army also wants to acquire Brahmos missiles for its Land-Based Missile System Acquisition Project, which was postponed from 2023 to 2027.
“As the world’s fastest supersonic cruise missiles, the Brahmos missiles will provide deterrence against any attempt to undermine our sovereignty and sovereign rights, especially in the West Philippine Sea,” then Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said after signing the Brahmos procurement.
In 2024, the United States Army also deployed its Typhon missile launchers at an undisclosed location in northern Luzon for the US-Philippines bilateral war games.
China, which claims the entire South China Sea including the West Philippine Sea, has called for the withdrawal of the missile systems from the Philippines, saying their deployment had “intensified geopolitical confrontation and escalated tensions in the region.”
Given such tensions, “It has thus become the responsibility of all stakeholders—including the Philippines and India—to play a more active role in upholding, defending, and preserving our rules-based order,” Mr. Marcos said in his foreign policy address in the event hosted by Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.
‘Strategic partnership’
The President said he was looking forward to seeing the Philippines and India work together “to strengthen the resilience of our world community.”
He also urged members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to collaborate with India in ensuring peace and order in the Indo-Pacific region.
