NEW DELHI, India — The Philippines is “in the process” of acquiring more BrahMos missiles and other defense assets from India, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said, as the country continued to counter China’s increasing aggression in the West Philippine Sea.
But Marcos said that this was not a preparation for war but merely a move to advance the country’s defense system amid the challenges and tensions in the region.
“Everything is on the table right now. As you may know, the Philippines is in the midst of a modernization of our military and so we are looking to see what is the most suitable for our defensive means,” Marcos said during an interview on India’s Firstpost.
“Let me be clear though: we are not girding up for war. We are simply reacting to the challenges that we are facing, those 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, and in so doing, we have a schedule of procurement of military equipment,” he added.
The BrahMos missile system, co-developed by India and Russia, is already on order, with two more sets expected to arrive in the Philippines over the next few years.
When asked on additional defense deals including fighter jets and naval platforms, Marcos said, “We must upgrade our equipment to be interoperable with partners. All our options are on the table.”
“So again, in order to be interoperable, purely technically sense, with our allies, then we have to upgrade our equipment to a standard that is interoperable. So that is what we are learning and that is what we need and so that’s we’re not taking anything off the table. We’re keeping all our options open,” Marcos said.
“From their demonstration that they’ve seen, from the training that they’ve received both in India and the Philippines, the practice runs that they have done, they seem terribly confident in their equipment and I think that we will probably, we are in the process of actually procuring more. So again, whatever else the Indian defense industry has been growing very rapidly and your technology is second to none, that’s always an option for us,” he added.
