The Philippines is in the process of acquiring more BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles from India, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. said.
“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 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.
The Commander-in-Chief is on a five-day state visit to India, where strengthening defense ties has been a key focus alongside economic and strategic cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.
Mr. Marcos emphasized that while military capability upgrades are underway, the Philippines is not “girding up for war.”
“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,” he said.
The President also noted that upgrading equipment like BrahMos is essential to achieving technical interoperability with defense partners such as India, amid increasing joint training and maritime cooperation.
“When I left Manila a couple of days ago, four Indian vessels were actually in the South China Sea. One of them was a research vessel docked in the Philippines, and three were conducting exercises with the Philippine Navy,” he said.
His remarks came amid renewed maritime tensions in the West Philippine Sea, where Chinese vessels have repeatedly violated Philippine sovereign rights, including by ramming, harassing, and blocking Filipino vessels near Ayungin Shoal.
The President also praised India’s fast-growing defense industry, calling its technology “second to none” and confirming that other potential acquisitions beyond BrahMos are under review.
“Everything is on the table right now,” he said, noting that India’s defense technology remains a key option as the Philippines evaluates its future procurement schedule.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. emphasized the strategic value of the BrahMos missile system in bolstering the Philippines’ defense posture, describing the Indian-made supersonic missile a crucial element of the country’s deterrence package.
“The BrahMos is an important part of our deterrent package,” Teodoro said, referring to the missile system procured under the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) modernization program.
“We will continue to advance discussions on how we can envelop the partnership on a sustainable basis,” he added.
The first batch of BrahMos missiles arrived in the country in April 2024, making the Philippines the first foreign buyer of the world’s fastest supersonic antiship missile system made by BrahMos Aerospace Private Ltd., an Indo-Russian defense contractor. The second delivery was made a year later in April.
Three batteries of the P18.9-billion shore-based antiship missiles were acquired for the Philippine Marines after a deal was signed on Dec. 31, 2021. The acquisition was part of the Philippine Navy’s Shore-Based Anti-Ship Missile Acquisition Project and was first conceived as early as 2017.
BrahMos—a portmanteau of the river names Brahmaputra of India and Moskva of Russia—has a range of 290 to 400 kilometers and can travel at Mach 2.8, or nearly three times the speed of sound.
Teodoro noted that India is among the countries that have acknowledged the 2016 Arbitral Award on the South China Sea, and shared that the Philippine and Indian Navies recently held the inaugural bilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity (MCA).
