India hopes to sell short -range missiles to the Philippines this year in an agreement worth more than $ 200 million, Indian sources said ReutersFor the second important New Delhi defense export contract with Manila as the tension grows with China.
The Akash missile system developed by the Indian Defense Research Agency has attracted the interest of the Philippines, which told New Delhi that it would make an order in the fiscal year that begins in April, three sources said.
All sources spoke about anonymity, since the matter is sensitive.
The air surface missile system with a range of up to 25 km (16 miles) was exported to Armenia last year in an agreement of $ 230 million, the sources said, and added that the philippine sale is expected to be larger than the Armenian agreement.
However, they did not reveal the number of companion missiles and systems, including radars, involved.
Bharat Dynamics Ltd Bara.ns of India, the missile manufacturer, was one of the exhibitors in the Asian defense and security exhibition last year in Manila.
The company and the Ministry of Defense of India did not immediately respond to comments requests.
A spokesman for the Philippines Defense, Arsenio Andolong, refused to comment on the details of any agreement or on acquisition plans, but said that the country’s armed forces had “stated their capacity.”
The expected agreement would continue for sale of $ 375 million from India of the Supersonic Brahmos Cruise Missile of Middle Rank to the Philippines in 2022.
The purchase comes at a time when Manila is building her military force as the tension increases with Beijing on overlapping claims in the busy river route of the Southern China Sea, where the two have faced in recent years.
India is the largest weapons importer in the world, but is intensifying domestic production and promoting defense exports to counteract China’s military strength and influence in its neighborhood after their troops faced themselves at the Himalayan border in 2020.
Indian defense teams, including weapons and ammunition, have jumped almost 150 percent since 2020 to cross $ 2.40 billion in the fiscal year that ended in March 2024.
However, its exports of weapons are lower than those of nations such as Australia and South Korea, and well below those of China, the fourth largest weapons exporter in the world.
The chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines said Wednesday that the country was looking to buy more military hardware to modernize its arsenal, including additional Brahmmos of India Brahmos and at least two submarines.
“We are getting more from this (Brahmos system) this year, and in the coming years,” said General Romeo Brawnner in a speech to commercial figures in the Philippines, but did not mention the Akash missile system.
