India expects $200 million missile deal with Philippines this year

NEW DELHI: India expects to sell short-range missiles to the Philippines this year in a deal worth more than $200 million, Indian sources told Reuters, for New Delhi’s second major defence export contract with Manila as tension grows with China.

The Akash missile system developed by India’s defence research body has drawn interest from the Philippines, which has told New Delhi it would make an order in the fiscal year that begins in April, said three sources.

All the sources spoke on condition of anonymity as the matter is a sensitive one.

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.

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 India’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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 expected deal would follow India’s $375-million sale of the mid-range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile to the Philippines in 2022.

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.

India’s exports of defence equipment, including arms and ammunition, have jumped nearly 150% since 2020 to cross $2.40 billion in the fiscal year that ended in March 2024.
However, its arms exports are lower than those of nations like Australia and South Korea, and far below those of China, the world’s fourth largest arms exporter.

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.