Manila buys over 24 BrahMos anti-ship cruise missiles for $375 million
The signing of a US$ 375 million contract with the Philippines on Friday for the supply of 24-30 BrahMos cruise missiles in the anti-ship configuration, constitutes India’s largest-ever weapons sale abroad.
“BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited (BAPL) signed a contract with the Department of National Defence of the Republic of Philippines on January 28, 2022 for supply of Shore-Based Anti-Ship Missile System to [the] Philippines,” announced the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Friday.
The Philippines have contracted for 24-30 BrahMos missiles, along with surveillance-cum-guidance radars, launcher vehicles, command and control centres and replenishment vehicles. BrahMos Aerospace has undertaken to supply the entire order within three-and-a-half years.
In 2007, India’s military became the world’s first to operationally deploy the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. Since then, it has placed additional orders for multiple BrahMos variants, including an anti-ship version, an air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) and a submarine-launched cruise missile (SLCM).
With India’s military demonstrating its confidence in the BrahMos, several foreign armed forces made enquiries about the weapon. Now the Philippines, confronted with Chinese bullying in the South China Sea, have become the first foreign military to actually order the shore-based, anti-ship cruise missile.
In a hypothetical armed confrontation that involves warships of the People’s Liberation Army (Navy), or PLA(N), attacking the Philippines, the Chinese flotilla would be detected at ranges beyond 500 km by the surveillance-and-guidance radar of the BrahMos battery. It would alert the battery command post, which would automatically designate the most suitable launcher vehicles to take on specific targets. As the aggressor missile closed in, the command post would give the launch command at an appropriate moment.
