MANILA, Philippines — Bilang bahagi ng modernisasyon ng Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), bibili ang Pilipinas ng karagdagang BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles sa India.
Sinabi ni Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos Jr. sa televised interview sa India’s Firstpost kamakalawa na nakausap na niya ang mga opisyal at tauhan nang nag-o-operate ng BrahMos system at sinabing kailangan ng bansa ng mas marami pa nito.
“Thank God it has never been used, but from the demonstrations that they’ve seen, from the training they received both in India and the Philippines, from the practice runs that they’ve done, they seem confident with the equipment… We are in the process of actually procuring more,” dagdag ng Pangulo.
Matatandaan na tinanggap ng Pilipinas ang first batch ng BrahMos missiles mula sa India noong Abril 2024 sa ilalim ng USD375 million deal.
“We are not girding up for war. We are simply reacting to the challenges that we are facing…the tensions have increased in the past years and so this is just the reaction to that. We have to do it. This is our duty—to defend the country,” diin ng Pangulo.
Nasa proseso na aniya ang pagbili ng nasabing missiles dahil bahagi ito ng modernisasyon ng military sector at bilang paghahanda na rin sa anumang tensyon sa rehiyon bagama’t nilinaw na hindi ito paghahanda sa isang giyera.