New Delhi [India], July 21 (ANI): Philippines Ambassador to India Josel F. Ignacio on Tuesday said the BrahMos missile system has given the Philippines “credible deterrence” in the South China Sea to counter China’s growing presence in the resource-rich region, while describing India as one of the country’s top potential providers for future defense acquisitions.
Highlighting the growing defense partnership between the two countries, Ignacio said the BrahMos acquisition has been a significant milestone and a major achievement in India-Philippines defense cooperation.
“The BrahMos was a very good opening, and it’s an important high point. I have to say that the expansion of our defense relationship with India started over a decade ago when we signed the defense equipment cooperation agreement. But certainly, defense equipment cooperation has blossomed more recently, and the BrahMos is the best example of that,” Ignacio said.
The envoy said India’s expanding indigenous defense industry, growing capabilities and ability to deliver reliable equipment have made New Delhi an important partner in Manila’s defense acquisition plans.
“With India showing how its indigenous defense industry has grown in capabilities, in the range of products, and in the reliable equipment it can deliver, India has become one of the top-of-mind potential providers for the Philippines,” he said.
Ignacio said India’s position among Manila’s defense partners has strengthened, with Philippine defense officials regularly exploring opportunities to source capabilities from India.
“So when our defense establishment, when our military, draws up its needs, its shopping list, among our traditional partners, now India has joined the ranks of those partners. Routinely, we now receive officials from defense and the military to look at these capabilities and explore possibilities for sourcing. So yes, India is now present in our minds when we look at our acquisition plans,” he added.
Speaking about how the BrahMos capability has strengthened the Philippines’ deterrence posture in the West Philippine Sea amid tensions in the South China Sea, Ignacio said the missile system has enhanced Manila’s ability to build credible deterrence.
“I think for some time now, what we have said about the BrahMos is that it’s giving us credible deterrence. The Philippines’ goal has always been defense-oriented, but also to build not just deterrence, but credible deterrence. And the BrahMos gives us that with its speed and its range,” he said.
He added that the system provides the Philippines with a measure of anti-access and area denial capability and changes the operational calculations for any potential aggressor.
“From a purely operational perspective, in military terms, perhaps, it bestows on the Philippines some measure of anti-access and area denial. And that kind of capability now also raises, for any potential aggressor, the costs of such actions. So it reconfigures the operational calculus when it comes to that kind of conflict,” Ignacio said.
However, the envoy stressed that the Philippines’ defense posture is aimed at maintaining peace and safeguarding national security.
“We don’t want to get there. The Philippines has always been a peace-loving country. We’ve always said that we’re a friend to all and an enemy to none. But it goes without saying that every country must look to its own defenses. And the BrahMos bestows on us that capability,” he said.
The Philippines became the first export customer for the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile system developed by India and Russia. In January 2022, Manila signed a $375 million deal with India for three batteries of the shore-based anti-ship variant of the missile system.
India delivered the first batch of BrahMos missiles to the Philippines in 2024, marking a major step in bilateral defense cooperation.
The two countries have been expanding their security ties through defense equipment cooperation, military exchanges and discussions on maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region. (ANI)
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