Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., said the Philippines plans to secure more military equipment from India, citing their affordability and quality.
“We are in fact ordering more equipment and weapon systems from India,” Brawner said in an ambush interview aboard the naval tanker INS Shakti (A-57) on Thursday night, when asked on whether the AFP is planning to acquire more equipment from India.
Brawner noted that Indian equipment, while of high quality, is not as expensive as those from other countries. “That’s why it’s good for us to partner with India,” he said, but did not specify what military equipment the AFP plans to procure.
The AFP chief said India is still in the process of delivering the BrahMos cruise missile systems ordered by the Philippines. “We still have two sets of BrahMos systems that will arrive in the next few years),” he said.
Former Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and BrahMos Aerospace director general Atul Dinkar Rane signed the contract for three BrahMos cruise system batteries worth P18.9 billion in a virtual ceremony in January 2022. A battery usually consists of three to six launchers along with monitoring and tracking components, as well as logistics support vehicles.
The first BrahMos batteries were delivered in April last year, but the Department of National Defense and the AFP have yet to issue any updates regarding its status.
In the same interview, Brawner said the Philippine Navy (PN) will conduct a bilateral maritime cooperative activity with Indian Navy ships in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) next week. The activitiy will coincide with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s visit to India on August 4 to 8.
Next week, while the President is in India, we will have a bilateral maritime cooperative activity with India. The PN and three Indian ships will sail together to the West Philippine Sea,” he said, adding that the activity is not a show of force but a “show of unity” and “show of solidarity” among like-minded countries that value a free and open Indo-Pacific Region.
Earlier this week, three ships of the Indian Navy’s Eastern Fleet — the guided-missile destroyer INS Mysore (D-60), the anti-submarine corvette INS Kiltan (D-30), and the naval tanker INS Shakti — arrived in Manila for a port visit.
In his statement, Brawner said the presence of the INS Shakti in Manila sends a “powerful signal of solidarity, strength in partnership, and the energy of cooperation between two vibrant democracies in the Indo-Pacific region.”
He lauded the deepening defense ties between the two nations and reaffirmed their shared commitment to maritime security, regional stability, and a rules-based international order in one of the world’s most geopolitically sensitive regions. (With PNA)