The Philippines has officially unveiled its operational BrahMos supersonic anti-ship missile battery, marking a significant milestone in the country’s defense modernization and regional deterrence posture. The video, released by the Philippine Marine Corps to commemorate its 75th anniversary, showcased the Marines’ new coastal defense missile unit, equipped with the Indo-Russian–made BrahMos cruise missile system—making this the first public display of the weapon since its induction.
The video chronicled the Marine Corps’ history while offering a rare glimpse of Philippine troops deploying BrahMos launchers in rapid succession, underscoring their growing readiness to respond to maritime threats. Each launcher was shown carrying two missiles, supported by a reloading carrier with four additional rounds. According to the Coastal Defense Regiment, a single BrahMos battery comprises two mobile autonomous launchers, one radar vehicle, a reloading truck, and a command-and-control unit—giving the system significant operational flexibility and mobility.
The unveiling came just days after China commissioned its newest and most advanced aircraft carrier, the Fujian, in a high-profile ceremony in Sanya, Hainan Province, near the contested South China Sea. The Fujian, China’s first fully indigenously produced flattop, marks a leap in the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) blue-water capabilities. Analysts view the timing of Manila’s BrahMos showcase as a subtle yet pointed response to Beijing’s growing naval assertiveness.
The Philippines became the first international customer of the BrahMos system after signing a US$375 million deal with India in January 2022 for three batteries of the shore-based anti-ship variant. The first batch of missiles arrived in 2024 and was inducted into service shortly thereafter, while the second batch was delivered in April 2025, as confirmed by Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. The third and final batch is expected to arrive before the end of 2025, completing the first phase of the Philippines’ coastal defense missile capability.
The BrahMos’ deployment is central to Manila’s broader strategy of enhancing deterrence in the face of escalating Chinese incursions into Philippine waters. Beijing continues to assert sovereignty over nearly the entire South China Sea through its controversial “nine-dash line”, despite multiple international rulings invalidating the claim.
Satellite imagery analyzed by Naval News earlier this year confirmed that the Philippines had begun constructing a BrahMos deployment site at Naval Station Leovigildo Gantioqui in Zambales, directly facing the South China Sea. The site sits just 220 kilometers from Scarborough Shoal, a flashpoint reef occupied by China since 2012, where recent months have seen violent standoffs between Chinese and Philippine vessels.
Given the BrahMos’ range of approximately 290 kilometers, the Zambales deployment puts virtually all Chinese ships operating around Scarborough Shoal within strike range, creating what defense analysts describe as a credible anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) umbrella for the Philippines’ western maritime frontier.
“The missile system gives the Philippines a real deterrent capability for the first time,” said a Manila-based defense expert. “It tells Beijing that any hostile action in the West Philippine Sea will come at a steep cost.”
The Naval Station Gantioqui site has also become a focal point of U.S.-Philippines military cooperation. During the Balikatan 2023 exercises, U.S. forces demonstrated the HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) at the base, conducting live-fire coastal defense drills. In parallel, the U.S. Army’s Typhon Mid-Range Capability (MRC)—capable of firing Tomahawk and SM-6 long-range missiles—was deployed on Luzon Island, the Philippines’ northernmost major island.
This year, during the Kamandag joint exercises, the U.S. Marines’ NMESIS (Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System) was operated for the first time on Batanes, a chain of islands north of Luzon that lies close to Taiwan’s southern tip.
Luzon’s position at the northern edge of the “first island chain” makes it a strategic chokepoint between the South China Sea and the Philippine Sea. In a potential conflict over Taiwan, the Luzon Strait would be a critical route for Chinese naval and air forces—raising fears that the Philippines could be dragged into a regional conflict.
While President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has repeatedly said Manila does not wish to be drawn into a Taiwan crisis, his administration has steadily expanded defense cooperation with Washington, granting the U.S. access to several new bases under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).
Jointly developed by India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya, the BrahMos is one of the fastest cruise missiles in the world, capable of speeds up to Mach 3 and carrying a 200–300 kg warhead.
The missile’s supersonic velocity shortens enemy reaction time, while its precision and low-altitude flight path—skimming as low as 10 meters above the sea during terminal approach—make it exceptionally hard to intercept. It can be launched from land, air, or sea platforms and uses inertial navigation with active radar homing for terminal guidance.
In Philippine service, the BrahMos represents not just a new weapon, but a new doctrine—one that leverages long-range strike capabilities to deter superior adversaries through asymmetric defense strategies.
While the Philippine Armed Forces remain vastly outmatched by China’s People’s Liberation Army, which boasts one of the world’s largest navies, the BrahMos gives Manila a credible countermeasure in littoral and coastal defense scenarios.
If future batteries are deployed to Palawan Island, the missiles could even cover Mischief Reef, one of Beijing’s largest artificial island fortresses in the Spratly chain, located roughly 239 kilometers from Palawan.
Former Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who oversaw the initial procurement, described the missile as a “deterrent against any attempt to undermine our sovereignty and sovereign rights.” His successor, Gilberto Teodoro Jr., has gone further, calling the BrahMos a “game-changer for the Philippines’ coastal defense” and highlighting its role in strengthening the Philippine Marine Corps’ Coastal Defense Regiment.
India views the Philippine BrahMos contract as a cornerstone of its defense export ambitions under the “Make in India” initiative. For Manila, the collaboration also symbolizes a deepening strategic partnership between two democratic maritime nations with shared concerns about China’s assertiveness.
President Marcos Jr., in remarks made in August 2025, hinted that the Philippines is already “in the process of acquiring more” missile systems from India. “I’ve talked to the officers and men who run the BrahMos system, and they say we need more,” Marcos said, without specifying whether the new order would go to the Philippine Army or Navy.
Reports suggest Manila is considering acquiring additional batteries for the Army’s coastal defense units, as well as exploring naval and air-launched variants in the longer term, which would vastly expand the missile’s reach across the archipelago’s maritime frontiers.
Predictably, China reacted sharply to the establishment of the first BrahMos base in Zambales, describing it as a “provocative move” that could “raise the risk of miscalculation.” Chinese state media warned that Manila was “throwing a gauntlet” by hosting systems that could directly target Chinese warships and installations in the South China Sea.
For the Philippines, however, the deployment is a defensive necessity, not an act of aggression. With Chinese coast guard and maritime militia vessels repeatedly entering Philippine waters and ramming supply ships bound for outposts like Second Thomas Shoal, Manila is seeking to draw a hard line in the sand.
The BrahMos system, with its precision strike capability, mobility, and deterrent effect, symbolizes a new phase in Philippine defense modernization—a shift from symbolic protest to tangible deterrence. It also signals Manila’s emergence as a frontline state in the Indo-Pacific balance of power, aligning more closely with India, Japan, and the United States in maintaining a free and open maritime order.
As the BrahMos batteries go operational in the coming months, the Philippines will, for the first time in its modern history, possess a system capable of hitting back swiftly and decisively at any hostile force threatening its maritime sovereignty.
