The Indian Army's Eastern Command launches a land-based version of the BrahMos missiles in March 2024. (Photo by Indian Army Eastern Command)

Philippines in Talks with India to Acquire More BrahMos Missiles

Jeoffrey Maitem - : Aug 7, 2025 - : 3:37 pm

President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr said the Philippines is in the process of acquiring more BrahMos anti-ship missiles from India as the country is ramping up its defense posture amid Beijing’s expanding military presence in the South China Sea. Marcos Jnr, who is currently...

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Marcos Jnr, who is currently in his five-day state visit to New Delhi, said the additional missile system was part of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) ongoing modernization and strengthening regional defense posture.

“I’ve spoken to the officers and men who operate the BrahMos system and they say we need more,” Marcos told India’s Firstpost in a televised interview aired on Wednesday.

“Thank God it has never been used, but from the demonstrations that they’ve seen, from the training they received both in India and the Philippines, from the practice runs that they’ve done, they seem confident with the equipment… We are in the process of actually procuring more,” he added.

Last year, New Delhi delivered the first supersonic anti-ship missiles to the Philippines under a US$375 million deal signed in 2022.

Manufactured by Indo-Russian multinational defence company BrahMos Aerospace, Brahmos missile can travel at a speed of 2.8 Mach – almost triple the speed of sound.

Marcos said military upgrades are ongoing but stressed the country isn’t preparing for war.

“We are not girding up for war,” Marcos Jnr said.

“We are simply reacting to the challenges that we are facing… the tensions have increased in the past years and so this is just the reaction to that. We have to do it. This is our duty—to defend the country.”

Back in June 2024, Manila constructed a base for its newly acquired BrahMos missiles at the Naval Station Leovigildo Gantioqui in Zambales, Western Luzon. The naval base is significant as it faces the disputed waters where China occupied the Scarborough Shoal, a traditional fishing ground within the 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone of the Philippines that China seized control in 2012.

Armed-forces-of-the-philippines-afp / Brahmos-missiles / India /

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