Philippines set to be first buyer of Indo-Russian BrahMos cruise missile

KIRAN SHARMA and CLIFF VENZON, for Nikkei Asia, in an excellent article. reported, November 22, 2020:

"NEW DELHI/MANILA -- India and Russia are looking to export to the Philippines their jointly developed BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, a move that may unnerve Beijing, given its border standoff with New Delhi and territorial disputes with other neighbors in the South China Sea.

The BrahMos takes its name from two rivers -- the Brahmaputra in India and the Moskva in Russia. The missile is manufactured by an Indo-Russian joint venture, BrahMos Aerospace, which was set up in India in 1998 and is responsible for designing, developing and marketing the missile. 

...[In December 2019] the Philippines said that it planned to buy the BrahMos for the army and air force to boost its coastal defenses. [Philippine] Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the contract would be signed by the second quarter of 2020, and consist of "two batteries," according to the state-run Philippine News Agency.

...Equipped with stealth technology and an advanced guidance system, the BrahMos can be launched from air, land, sea and underwater platforms and can carry conventional warheads weighing 200 kg to 300 kg. It has a range of 290 km and is supersonic, shortening flight and engagement time. The missile's speed makes it difficult for targets to disburse. No known weapon can intercept it, according to BrahMos Aerospace.

...New Delhi and Manila earlier this month held an online meeting of their commission on bilateral cooperation, co-chaired by India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Teodoro Locsin Jr., his Philippine counterpart. They agreed to strengthen the two countries' defense engagement and maritime cooperation, especially in military training, capacity-building, goodwill visits and procurement of equipment.

China is likely to view these developments with concern, including the involvement of its ally Russia in supplying the BrahMos to the Philippines.

...On Oct. 18, the missile was successfully test-fired from the Indian Navy's indigenously built stealth destroyer INS Chennai, hitting a target in the Arabian Sea "with pinpoint accuracy," a Defense Ministry statement said. On Sept. 30, a BrahMos surface-to-surface ground attack cruise missile featuring many Indian-made subsystems was flight-tested. During the test, the missile cruised at a top speed of Mach 2.8...

..."Russia clearly sees China as a useful partner when it comes to their posturing vis-a-vis the West. But they are also being pragmatic when it comes to [their] defense exports," which are falling, [Harsh V. Pant, head of the strategic studies program at New Delhi-based think tank Observer Research Foundation] told Nikkei. He observed that apart from the Philippines, others, including Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, have also shown interest in the BrahMos. "If you have to make this defense venture economically viable, then exports are very important."

Under the Missile Technology Control Regime that India joined in 2018, avenues for selling the BrahMos overseas have opened up, said Pankaj Jha, a professor of defense and strategic affairs at O.P. Jindal Global University, pointing out that its range is being extended to 400 km from the original 290 km...."

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