Recently The media said, the Philippines government plans to sign a contract to buy BrahMos supersonic missiles with India in early 2021.
The Philippines may sign a contract to purchase the “BrahMos” state-of-the-art supersonic anti-ship cruise missile from the Russia-India joint venture as early as 2021, Japan’s leading business newspaper Nikkei cites Manila political sources. said on December 3.
A spokesman for the Philippine Defense Ministry also confirmed to the newspaper that the country’s military is currently considering buying BrahMos missiles to own an effective weapon in protecting the sovereignty that the country itself claims over the South China Sea.
The BrahMos missile can be used for many different purposes, the official said, and the military is studying how to use this missile in its territory protection. However, it is likely that the Philippines will buy the anti-ship version.
According to the Jane’s Defense Weekly Information and Analysis Center, the Indo-Russian joint venture that produces Brahmos missiles had preliminary rounds of discussions with Manila at the end of 2019 and in 2020, with an agreement to supply missiles with may be scheduled in early 2021, on the occasion of a scheduled summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Rodrigo Duterte.
For analysts, the fact that the Philippines is equipped with Brahmos missiles, dubbed the “killer killer”, will help this country have the ability to deterrence against China, which has used the power to occupy a real number. The Philippines claims sovereignty over the South China Sea and regularly allows ships to penetrate the waters of the Southeast Asian nation.
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Photos of a version of BrahMos specially ordered by the Philippine Army were leaked on some websites and online forums in the Philippines.
Accordingly, there appeared both a demonstration of a complete surface-to-shore missile system and a prototype of the Philippine BrahMos missile carrier, using an existing Kia KM500 trailer and trailer. on the payroll of the Army of this country.
Besides the Philippines, which countries can buy BrahMos?
Alexander Maksichev, co-director of the Russian-Indian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace last August stated that, despite the coronavirus epidemic, the list of orders sent to the Russia-India Joint Venture for BrahMos missile production had been increased by 1 billion USD in the first 6 months.
The representative of BrahMos Aerospace said that the largest proportion of 40% is for infantry orders, 30% for the Air Force and 30% for the Navy (including coast guard forces, i.e. both anti-ship and shore-to-shore versions).
He added that the first export contract for the supply of missiles to a third country is still expected to be signed by the end of this year but due to the pandemic, the joint venture continues to wait, immediately after opening the border. However, he refused to name the country as a potential buyer.
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| The image showcases the Philippine BrahMos surface-to-shore missile system |
Information on the possibility of the Philippines buying BrahMos cruise missiles for both the Army and Air Force was leaked in December 2019. Even well-informed sources have even stated that, procurement contracts is expected to be signed in the second quarter of this year.
However, Nikkei said, an outbreak of a coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic disrupted this plan. Now, the newspaper noted, the agreement is expected to be signed in early 2021 and most of the Philippines will buy a version of the coastline, because the country does not have compatible warships to install BrahMos missiles, while there is no budget to buy more ships.
According to Jane’s Defense Weekly, besides the Philippines, India is also negotiating the possibility of selling BrahMos missiles to a number of other Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. However, information on these deals is not clear.
Brief introduction to the missile BrahMos
BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile produced by the Russian-Indian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace (established in 1998). This is a joint development cooperation plan of the Russian Center for Research and Production and the Defense Research and Development Organization of India (DRDO).
BrahMos was developed on the basis of the P-800 Oniks missile. The missile’s first test launch took place in 2001.
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| Philippine military officials visit the F-49 INS Sahyadri (Shivalik class) missile defense ship to check the capabilities of the BrahMos missile system – October 2019 |
Different versions of rockets (land, surface, ship, air) are used in all three types of the Indian Armed Forces: Air Force, Navy (both surface ships, submarines and security forces. coast) and Army. In addition to the ultrasonic version, in the future there will be supersonic missiles.
In addition to developing variants for the military, armies, Russia and India also focus on manufacturing in the direction of the task, so that BrahMos can undertake many different tasks such as sea, land, and air. anti-radar, anti-command aircraft – early warning …
It is known that the BrahMos missile can destroy the AWACS (Early Warning-Command Aircraft) has been approved, preparations for the first launch are expected to be completed in 2024 – Alexander Maksichev, co-director of the Russian-Indian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace, recently announced this information.
The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile will be built by 2028, Maksichev also revealed.
Currently, the plan to build BrahMos supersonic missiles is divided into two phases: the first stage until 2024-2025 will build a missile with a speed of 4-5 Mach and the second stage is until 2026. -2027 make rockets with a speed of 6-7 Mach. BrahMos Aerospace experts have tested several components and combinations of the missile, allowing it to be developed to the intended speed.