The Philippines, a U.S. ally, has hailed as a “game-changer” the delivery of new supersonic missiles that it believes will significantly beef up its coastal defenses amid rising tensions with China.
The first batch of BrahMos cruise missiles, ordered from India two years ago, arrived at Clark International Airport north of Manila on Friday. It was handed over to the Philippine marines to be deployed at an as yet undisclosed location within the country’s archipelagic territory.
The high-profile arms transfer comes in the middle of the simmering Philippines-China dispute in the contested Spratly Islands archipelago of the South China Sea, where the Chinese and Philippines coast guards have clashed over territorial features claimed by both sides.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The Philippines, a U.S. ally, has hailed as a “game-changer” the delivery of new supersonic missiles that it believes will significantly beef up its coastal defenses amid rising tensions with China.
The high-profile arms transfer comes in the middle of the simmering Philippines-China dispute in the contested Spratly Islands archipelago of the South China Sea, where the Chinese and Philippines coast guards have clashed over territorial features claimed by both sides.
The missile were delivered on the back of an Indian air force Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, images showed, and the fulfilment highlights India’s role as a major arms manufacturer and exporter, at a time when it is also proving itself to be a net security provider amid turmoil in the Red Sea.
China maintains that maritime disputes should be handled properly with countries directly concerned through negotiation and consultation," Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., told Newsweek in an email.
Don McLain Gill, a geopolitical analyst and lecturer at De La Salle University in Manila, said the BrahMos cruise missile, with an effective range of 180 miles, was “widely known for not being able to be intercepted by any known weapon system.”
Malaya, the Philippines National Security Council official, told local media over the weekend that the BrahMos missiles would complement the tracking capability offered by radar systems acquired from Japan.
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