Deeper India-Philippines ties boost US aims in South China Sea — SkimNews
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- BrahMos provided the centerpiece of April's Balikatan drill, where Filipino marines simulated firing the anti-ship missile during the joint maritime strike phase of the most expansive iteration of the annual exercise yet, with India attending as an observer rather than a participant.
- Elbridge Colby said in Manila that deterrence along the first island chain cannot rest on American power alone, adding that asking allies and partners to invest more in their own defense is "not signaling abandonment."
- Philippines defense spending runs roughly US$6.12 billion in 2024 and $6.7 billion in the proposed 2027 budget — among its highest figures to date though still small — alongside the 2024 Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept, the Self Reliant Defense Posture Law and the Horizon I, II and III plans.
- India sold the Philippines three shore-based BrahMos batteries for $375 million in 2022, with Manila declining a $100 million Indian line of credit and financing the purchase from its own defense appropriations.
- BrahMos batteries arrived in April 2024 and the first became operational that November in Zambales under the Marine Corps Coastal Defense Regiment, with a 290-kilometer strike capability reaching Scarborough Shoal; India has also offered 400-kilometer variants for deployment from Palawan toward the Spratlys.
- Information Fusion Center for the Indian Ocean Region — India invited the Philippines to the maritime domain awareness hub in 2025, building on a 2023 coastal guard agreement and "white shipping" arrangement, and the two navies' first joint maritime activity inside the Philippine EEZ was shadowed by Chinese vessels.
- India has publicly backed Manila's South China Sea position, including the 2016 arbitral award that China has ignored by extending territorial claims through artificial islands and the nine-dash line, while Philippine ambassador to India Josel F. Ignacio calls the BrahMos a "game changer" providing "real credible deterrence."
Why it matters: For Manila, India's $375 million BrahMos sale delivers three shore-based batteries whose first unit now covers Scarborough Shoal from Zambales — what the Philippine ambassador calls a "game changer." For Washington, the second-order gain is that hardware and intel-sharing from a non-treaty ally reinforce maritime denial without formal alliance commitments.
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