The Philippines has told India that it will place an order worth $200 million for indigenously developed short-range missiles in the upcoming financial year amid growing tensions with China, according to a Reuters report. If signed, it will be India’s second major defence export contract with Manila.
The island country in Southeast Asia has eyes on the Akash missile system developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
The surface-to-air missile system with a range of up to 25 km (16 miles) was exported to Armenia last year in a $230-million deal, the sources said, adding that the Philippine sale is expected to be bigger than the Armenian deal.
However, they did not reveal the number of missiles and accompanying systems, including radars, involved.
The expected deal would follow India’s $375-million sale of the mid-range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile to the Philippines in 2022.
India’s Bharat Dynamics Ltd, the manufacturer of the missiles, was one of the exhibitors at last year’s Asian Defense and Security Exhibition in Manila. The company and the defence ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Philippines’ armed forces chief said on Wednesday the country was looking to buy more military hardware to modernise its arsenal, including additional BrahMos missiles from India and at least two submarines. “We are getting more of this (BrahMos system) this year, and in the coming years,” General Romeo Brawner said in a speech to business figures in the Philippines, but did not mention the Akash missile system.
A Philippine defence spokesperson, Arsenio Andolong, declined to comment on the specifics of any deal or on plans for procurement, but said the country’s armed forces had “manifested it requires these capabilities”.
The purchase comes at a time when Manila is building its military strength as tension escalates with Beijing on overlapping claims in the busy waterway of the South China Sea, where the two have clashed in recent years.
India is the world’s biggest arms importer but is stepping up domestic production and boosting defence exports to counter China’s military strength and influence in its neighbourhood after their troops clashed on the Himalayan border in 2020.