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Sam Beltran

The Philippines is looking to India as a model of defence self-reliance as it continues building its capabilities to manage maritime disputes following the purchase of its first BrahMos missiles from Delhi.
While India’s experience is useful, it is more practical for Manila to cooperate with Delhi in stages than push quickly to manufacture its own weapons, according to analysts.
Speaking at a forum organised by Indian think tank Observer Research Foundation on August 12, the Philippine ambassador to India, Josel Ignacio, said his country was satisfied with the purchase of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, adding that they provided Manila “real credible deterrence” amid ongoing maritime challenges in the South China Sea.
The Philippines is embarking on military modernisation to prioritise deterrence through an integrated air and missile defence system, mid-range launchers and enhanced radar capabilities.
Defence cooperation was becoming an “important pillar” of the strategic partnership between the two countries, Ignacio said.
He called the BrahMos deal an important component of Manila’s efforts in modernising its military, adding that the missiles were “in sync with the kind of archipelagic defence we want to have”.
“What the BrahMos project has done is raise the profile of India for the Philippines defence establishment as a credible, reliable source of quality defence equipment,” he said.

The deal had also generated interest in India’s defence capabilities across Southeast Asia, according to Ignacio.
The Philippines was the first country to buy the BrahMos, a system jointly developed by India and Russia, under a US$375 million deal and received its first batch of the missiles in 2024. Vietnam and Indonesia have also signed agreements to purchase the missiles from India.
Ignacio said the Philippines was keen to expand its defence engagement with India and develop its manufacturing capabilities.
“We are not just talking about buying equipment from India, but going beyond that, perhaps cooperating with India, which has a robust indigenous defence sector, to have a similar one in the Philippines, going by the Indian experience,” he said.
In 2024, President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr signed the Self-Reliant Defence Posture Revitalisation Act, which seeks to develop a domestic defence industrial base.
India’s vast experience
Chester Cabalza, president and CEO of Manila-based think tank International Development and Security Cooperation, said India’s experience in defence manufacturing could help the Philippines reduce its dependency on foreign armaments.
“New Delhi’s biggest strength is its call for non-alignment, which could support Manila’s aspiration for strategic autonomy,” Cabalza said.
Don McLain Gill, an international relations lecturer at De La Salle University, noted that India’s commitment to the partnership was timely given the importance of self-reliance and defence of the Southeast Asian country’s archipelagic territory.
“I see that there are numerous potential opportunities for the Philippines and India to start working together, going beyond simply buying and selling to producing together,” Gill said.

According to Cabalza, India’s expertise in surveillance of multiple domains, including maritime, would be useful for the Philippines.
Oorja Tapan, a doctoral candidate at the Centre for International Politics, Organisation and Disarmament at Jawaharlal Nehru University, cited India’s capabilities in patrol vessels, coastal surveillance radars, electro-optics and unmanned surface vessels.
“What India can actually transfer isn’t a product – it is an institutional architecture and 40 years of knowing which parts of it were dead ends,” Tapan said.
According to Gill, there is scope for collaboration in intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, radar systems and drone production.
“India has a relatively vast experience with indigenous navigation and radar systems. This would be a very important contribution because there are a lot of similarities in the conditions in which the Indian navy operates, which the Philippine navy and Philippine coastguard could also emulate,” he said.
Vincent Kyle Parada, a lecturer at the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde’s School of Diplomacy and Governance, said the Philippines should start its partnership with India on a more manageable scale as it was far from ready to develop advanced systems such as warships or fighter jets even with foreign backing.
“Joint development has to start small, and based on current procurement trends, missiles, rockets, and munitions seem the likely areas of cooperation,” he said.


‘Enormously difficult’
However, analysts have warned that the path towards defence self-reliance is long and challenging for the Philippines.
“Setting up an export-oriented defence industry isn’t impossible, but it is an enormously difficult task,” Parada said.
He noted the delay in passing the law on the country’s self-reliance in defence.
“The Philippines really is more of a market for arms rather than a potential proponent,” he said. “And when policymakers refer to local defence production, I think they’re thinking in terms of supply chains rather than research and development.”
Tapan said the Philippines would face stiff competition from countries such as South Korea, Indonesia, and Japan if it were to become an arms exporter, adding that it would take Manila many years to develop such capabilities.
“Anyone selling Manila on becoming an arms exporter is selling a timeline that doesn’t exist,” Tapan said.
“South Korea took 30 years, on the back of a large conscript military, American technology transfer, patient state credit and chaebol depth. Singapore had a sovereign balance sheet. None of those conditions is replicable [in the Philippines].”
She also said uncertainty in Philippine politics could be a potential hurdle to the country’s ambition to become an arms exporter, citing the 2028 presidential election.
“That needs political continuity past 2028, which shouldn’t be assumed.”


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The timeline for the Philippines to develop self-reliance in defence is long, while the political will may be lacking, analysts say


The timeline for the Philippines to develop self-reliance in defence is long, while the political will may be lacking, analysts say.


Is Philippines’ aim to become an arms exporter like India overly ambitious?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The timeline for the Philippines to develop self-reliance in defence is long, while the political will may be lacking, analysts say

The timeline for the Philippines to develop self-reliance in defence is long, while the political will may be lacking, analysts say