Philippines on Friday, January 28, 2022, signed a $374.96-million deal with BrahMos Aerospace Private Ltd. for the supply of shore-based anti-ship variant of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles. This is the first export order for the missile, which is a joint product between India and Russia.
The contract was signed by Defence Secretary of National Defence of Philippines Delfin Lorenzana and Atul Dinkar Rane, Director General of BrahMos Aerospace Pvt. Ltd. in a virtual ceremony at 2pm Manila time (11:30am IST).
The contract includes the delivery of three batteries, training for operators and maintainers as well as the necessary Integrated Logistics Support (ILS) package. The coastal defence regiment of the Philippine Marines will be the primary employer of missile systems.
As reported by The Hindu on January 14, Secretary of National Defence of Philippines Delfin Lorenzana signed the ‘notice of award’ on December 31 accepting the proposal of BrahMos Aerospace at a price of $374,962,800. Conceptualised as early as 2017, the Office of the President approved its inclusion in the Horizon 2 Priority Projects in 2020, he had stated.
As reported earlier, there is interest for acquiring BrahMos missiles from several countries. Discussions are in advanced stages with Indonesia and Thailand. India and Russia had long agreed on a negative export list for sale of the missile.
BrahMos is a joint venture between DRDO and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya, and the missile derives its name from Brahmaputra and Moskva rivers. The missile is capable of being launched from land, sea, sub-sea and air against surface and sea-based targets and has for long been inducted by the Indian armed forces.
The range of the missile was originally capped at 290 km as per obligations of the Missile Technology Control Regime. Following India’s entry into the club in June 2016, officials said the range would be extended to 450 km and 600 km at a later stage. The extended range missile has been tested earlier and was tested twice on January 11 from indigenous guided stealth missile destroyer INS Visakhapatnam and Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha, on January 20.