MANILA, Philippines – Before the first quarter of 2024 ends, the Philippines will finally enter the “supersonic age,” said National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson Jonathan Malaya on state-run PTV4’s Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon.
Malaya was referring to the pending delivery of the BrahMos missile system, almost two years after Philippine and Indian officials formalized a $370-million contract to purchase the anti-ship missile system.
The NSC official said the ground system would come by the first week of February 2024 while the missiles themselves would arrive in March 2024. The Philippines is set to receive three batteries of the coastal defense missile system.
But what does the delivery mean for Philippine defenses, and India’s place in the region’s defense and security puzzle?
2022 deal
The contract to acquire the missile system was formalized in January 2022, during the tail end of the previous Duterte administration.
Joshua Espeña, vice president at International Development and Security Cooperation (IDSC), said the system itself is not enough. “The BrahMos cruise missile system enables any military to have anti-access/area-denial capabilities against enemy naval surface platforms – as the manual says. But acquiring the system per se isn’t a game-changer; it is operational design, and the strategic vision that informs it, that matters most,” he told Rappler.
In short, the BrahMos missile system is only a piece of the country’s bigger defense puzzle.
“For instance, if we talk about China’s overall capabilities employed in the South China Sea, the thing is that the Brahmos fired from AFP’s platforms might be intercepted mid-air. I am skeptical whether the AFP can afford such wastage of munitions in times of war considering financial constraints,” he said.
It’s up to the military, for instance, to also make sure it’s able to learn how to neutralize the “kill chain” of a potential enemy for the Brahmos munition “to pack a punch.”
“These points are serious factors for conventional deterrence in peacetime. But this doesn’t mean the AFP won’t be able to overcome this; we only need to temper our optimism with a healthy take on defense planning. We need more than BrahMos,” he added.
According to the BrahMos Aerospace website, the company is a joint venture between the India-based Defense Research and Development Organization and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya. The company was established in 1998 following an agreement signed between India and Russia.
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