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| An Su-30MKI Aircraft of the Indian Air Force carrying a BrahMos-A Missile. Photo from Wikimedia Commons |
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said that the plan to acquire the PJ-10 BrahMos Missile from India is moving forward, but that funding for it has yet to be made available as of now.
He also mentioned that the Philippine Air Force (PAF) will be able to use them, so there seems to be a plan for the PAF to use it also.
The Procurement Mode to be used for these Missiles will be Government to Government (G2G) between the Philippines and India.
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About a Week and a half ago, the Indian Press reported that the Contract was about to be signed during the Meeting Indian External Affairs Minister Subramanyam Jaishankar and Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. last November 6, 2020, but that it was cancelled since one unnamed Person did not attend the Meeting.
The Indian Press also mentioned that the Philippines is asking for more than the Usd 100 million Loan that India was willing to give for the Missiles, and that the plan now is for the Contract to be signed during the Summit between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Rodrigo Duterte, tentatively set on February 2021.
If the Funds are still unavailable by that time though, then the Contract Signing will not likely happen.
The acquisition of the BrahMos Missiles also for the PAF has been mentioned in previous News Reports, the Air-launched Version available now is called the BrahMos-A which is slightly lighter (lighter by only around 400-500 kg) than the PJ-10.
Currently it seems only India’s Su-30MKI Flanker-H Aircraft is cleared to use the BrahMos-A, which is a relatively large Aircraft itself. Not sure which Aircraft the PAF is planning to use the BrahMos-A with as it is still a pretty large and heavy Missile.
The BrahMos-A is around 8.4 m long which is more than half or 64% of the overall Length of the FA-50PH Fighting Eagle Aircraft of the PAF which is only 13.1 m long.
There are also other issues like weight, the BrahMos-A weighs around 2,500 kg and even with an Aircraft as large as the Su-30MKI, special modifications were still needed for it to be able to carry it.
It's Undercarriage needed to be strengthened, the World’s biggest Pylon to carry the Missile had to be integrated to it, and even the Structure of the Aircraft itself had to be strengthened also.
If we are indeed getting the BrahMos-A also, it will be interesting to see on which PAF Aircraft it will be mounted on, and what modifications will be needed on those Aircraft to use the Missile.
India is planning a smaller and lighter Air-launched Version of the BrahMos called the BrahMos-NG, but it is still currently in development and won’t be ready until 2024. If successful, the BrahMos-NG will allow smaller Aircraft to use them, or allow bigger Aircraft to carry more of them.
* BrahMos Program in progress, Funds yet to be available: DND {Archived Link}
* The Philippines’ BrahMos acquisition update – Nov. 12, 2020 {Archived Link}
* First Indian BrahMos Squadron commissioned {Archived Link}
* Brahmos Missile finally takes flight on Indian Sukhoi Fighter {Archived Link}
* Will be ready with BrahMos-NG when IAF demands it: Dr S K Mishra... {Archived Link}
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