WITH the expected delivery of the Indian-made BrahMos medium-range ramjet supersonic cruise missile systems within the year, the country’s capability to defend its coastline and territorial waters will get a much needed firepower boost.
This weapons platform is expected to address the country’s defense weaknesses and vulnerability in sea control, anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD), and coastal and island defense operations.
January 28, 2022, for the Philippine Marines’ Coastal Defense Regiment’s SBASM Battalion.
The BrahMos cruise missile can be launched from a ship, aircraft, submarine, or land and has a top speed of around Mach 2.8, or around 3,400 kilometers per hour, and is capable of carrying warheads weighing 200 to 300 kilograms.
Expected to operate the BrahMos cruise missile system is the Philippine Navy’s Marine Corps (PMC), which activated a shore-based anti-ship missile (SBASM) battalion on April 3, 2022. This unit is under the PMC’s Coastal Defense Regiment (CDR).
A missile battery typically consists of three mobile autonomous launchers with two or three missile tubes each, along with the tracking systems.
A shore-based missile system is a significant part of any reliable coastal defense system in pursuit of maritime security while in a defensive posture.
Certified ‘ready’
AS this developed, 21 PN personnel were recently awarded with their interim missile badges and pins by Indian Navy Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Radhakrishnan Hari Kumar, following the completion of their operator training of the SBASMS, which took place in India from January 23 to February 11.
The PMC, in a Facebook post on February 18, said the training focused on the operations and maintenance of some of the most important logistics package of the SBASM.
“The induction of the BrahMos missile into the PMC will strengthen your maritime capability and will also contribute to our collective maritime security within the region. I sincerely hope that you’ll always cherish the bonds of friendship you had during your stay here,” Kumar said.
He also congratulated PN officers, enlisted personnel and civilian human resource participants who finished the practical series of the training successfully, and added that, “as pioneers of the system, each have proven his/her capacity as fine ambassador of their country.”
In the same PMC Facebook post, CDR commander Marine Col. Romulo D. Quemado lauded the team for the successful accomplishment of the training. He also expressed his optimism on the CDR’s future with the trained personnel.
Quemado also emphasized the value of retaining the knowledge they gained during training to honor the investment made by the Filipino people.
The training is a critical package included in the PN SBASM project contract signed by the Philippines and India in 2022.
“The said acquisition was viewed as a boost to the PN’s capability to defend the country’s maritime borders and will further complement the efforts of the PN surface assets in patrolling Philippine waters,” the PMC added.
BrahMos to help guard WPS
ON January 28, 2022, the Department of National Defense (DND) officially signed the contract for the acquisition of the BrahMos medium-range ramjet supersonic cruise missiles.
Then DND Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and BrahMos Aerospace Director General Atul Dinkar Rane signed the contract worth P18.9 billion in a virtual ceremony at the DND building in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.
Three batteries of the BrahMos cruise missiles will be acquired by the country under this contract. Lorenzana said the BrahMos cruise missiles will greatly beef up the PN’s firepower.
He added that the BrahMos cruise missile system would provide counter-attack capabilities within the Philippine exclusive economic zone. “As the world’s fastest supersonic cruise missiles, the BrahMos missiles will provide deterrence against any attempt to undermine our sovereignty and sovereign rights, especially in the West Philippine Sea,” Lorenzana said.
Initial delivery of the BrahMos cruise missile system is expected this 2023. BrahMos is under Horizon 2 of the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program (RAFPMPP), which is slated for 2018 to 2022.
Lorenzana signed the notice of award for the PN’s BrahMos acquisition project, which is a government-to-government deal, in India on December 31, 2021.
“It includes the delivery of three batteries, training for operators and maintainers as well as the necessary integrated logistics support package. Conceptualized as early as 2017, the Office of the President approved its inclusion in the Horizon 2 Priority Projects in 2020,” he added.
Army eyes own BrahMos system
THE Philippine Army (PA), for its part, is also eyeing to acquire the BrahMos cruise missile system via Horizon 3 of the RAFPMP. PA’s acquisition of BrahMos is programmed under the 3rd Horizon (Year 2023-2027) of the RAFPMP.
“Hence, the PA is yet to acquire said units since we are still on the 2nd Horizon (2018-2022) wherein some of the programmed acquisitions are still in process,” PA spokesperson Col. Xerxes Trinidad said.
He added that the Army is programmed to get two BrahMos batteries, to be used for coastal defense missions.
“The acquisition of two batteries will serve as the general support artillery unit in coastal defense that will [complement] the joint force in territorial defense,” Trinidad said.
The BrahMos, according to him, fills the PA’s requirement of ground-based anti-ship missiles (GBASM) and the mission of the field artillery to destroy, neutralize and suppress the enemy through cannon and rocket fire.
“The concept of coastal defense implies the application of an in-depth defense. As such, defenses have to provide much further into the sea to weaken advancing enemy forces and much further inland to protect against envelopment and isolation,” Trinidad said.
The GBASM system is a mobile system with long-range precision capability to destroy hostile warships in territorial defense. “Said GBASM system will form part of the layered defense strategy and will be under the Army Artillery Regiment. The weapon will also provide area denial as the operational situation requires,” Trinidad said.
The GBASM is designed to be launched from land to hit targets at sea with high speed and precision. It has an all-weather, long-range capability of 250 to 300 kilometers. Its launch platform consists of two missiles in a ready-to-launch configuration on containers. The system also uses a radar and fire control system for coordinating the launch.
Image credits: indian Ministry of Defence (GODL-India), Department of National Defense