India expects $200 million missile deal with Philippines this year, sources say

Bharat Dynamics

13/02/2025 07:52

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      Philippines interested in buying India's Akash missiles
    

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      Order likely to be placed in fiscal year starting April
    

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      Manila building up military as tension grows with China
    

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      Deal will be 2nd major defence export contract with Manila
    

  
 (Adds details on India's exports; paragraphs 12,13)
    By Shivam Patel
       NEW DELHI, Feb 13 (Reuters) - India expects to sell
short-range missiles to the Philippines this year in a deal
worth more than $200 million, Indian sources told Reuters, for
New Delhi's second major defence export contract with Manila as
tension grows with China.
    The Akash missile system developed by India's defence
research body has drawn interest from the Philippines, which has
told New Delhi it would make an order in the fiscal year that
begins in April, said three sources.
    All the sources spoke on condition of anonymity as the
matter is a sensitive one.
    The surface-to-air missile system with a range of up to 25
km (16 miles) was exported to Armenia last year in a
$230-million deal, the sources said, adding that the Philippine
sale is expected to be bigger than the Armenian deal.
    However, they did not reveal the number of missiles and
accompanying systems, including radars, involved.
    India's Bharat Dynamics Ltd  BARA.NS , the manufacturer of
the missiles, was one of the exhibitors at last year's Asian
Defense and Security Exhibition in Manila.
    The company and India's defence ministry did not immediately
respond to requests for comment. 
    A Philippine defence spokesperson, Arsenio Andolong,
declined to comment on the specifics of any deal or on plans for
procurement, but said the country's armed forces had "manifested
it requires these capabilities".
    The expected deal would follow India's $375-million sale of
the mid-range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile to the
Philippines in 2022.
    The purchase comes at a time when Manila is building its
military strength as tension escalates with Beijing on
overlapping claims in the busy waterway of the South China Sea,
where the two have clashed in recent years.
    India is the world's biggest arms importer but is stepping
up domestic production and boosting defence exports to counter
China's military strength and influence in its neighbourhood
after their troops clashed on the Himalayan border in 2020.
    India's exports of defence equipment, including arms and
ammunition, have jumped nearly 150% since 2020 to cross $2.40
billion in the fiscal year that ended in March 2024. 
    However, its arms exports are lower than those of nations
like Australia and South Korea, and far below those of China,
the world's fourth largest arms exporter. 
    The Philippines' armed forces chief said on Wednesday the
country was looking to buy more military hardware to modernise
its arsenal, including additional BrahMos missiles from India
and at least two submarines. 
    "We are getting more of this (BrahMos system) this year, and
in the coming years," General Romeo Brawner said in a speech to
business figures in the Philippines, but did not mention the
Akash missile system.

 (Reporting by Shivam Patel in New Delhi; Additional reporting
by Karen Lema in Manila; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
 ((Shivam.Patel@thomsonreuters.com;))