Friday, January 14, 2022

Philippines awards Shore-Based Anti-Ship Missile System project to India’s Brahmos Aerospace

 

BrahMos missile mobile firing units of the Indian Army. Photo c/o Financial Times India.


The Philippines Department of National Defense (DND) has released a Notice of Award (NOA) for the Shore-Based Anti-Ship Missile System acquisition project of the Philippine Navy.

The document, which was awarded to Indian company Brahmos Aerospace Pvt Ltd, was received by the company’s representatives on 31 December 2021.

Brahmos Aerospace’s proposed price was worth US$374,962,800, will be used as basis for the contract, which is expected to be signed between the two parties very soon.

According to Philippine defense page MaxDefense Philippines, Brahmos Aerospace offered the BrahMos Maritime Coastal Batteries, which has been in offer since 2017, and is believed to include at least 3 batteries as part of the agreement.

A battery will have at least 3 to 4 mobile firing units, plus attached command and control, radar, and support vehicles and units. 

Each mobile firing unit has 3 ready-to-fire PJ-10 BrahMos anti-ship supersonic missiles, with the export variant having a maximum range of around 290 kilometers, reduced from the original of at least 400 kilometers due to Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) limitations.

MaxDefense Philippines also confirmed that aside from the Philippine Navy, a separate acquisition is being pushed for the Philippine Army’s own requirement for a Land-Based Missile System, which may include land attack and anti-ship variants.

The introduction of the BrahMos Maritime Coastal Batteries will be the first for the Philippines, which has been pushing to improve its maritime defense and anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) capabilities with the increased threats from China and its claims in the South China Sea.

The Philippines won an international arbitration case against China that invalidated its 9-Dash Line claims that includes the 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Philippines, but enforcement of the maritime law has been problematic for militarily weaker countries like the Philippines as China does not acknowledge the arbitration ruling despite being incorporated as basis for international maritime laws.

Vietnam was also said to have shown interest in the BrahMos Maritime Coastal Battery system although no agreement has been reached.




[1]
Philippines Department of National Defense
[2] Philippine Defense Resource
[3] MaxDefense Philippines

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