On November 7th, the Asia-Pacific region witnessed a very coincidental military display.

On that day, China officially announced the commissioning of its third aircraft carrier, Fujian, which was independently designed and built; at the same time, the Philippine Marine Corps also held a celebration for its 75th anniversary and publicly displayed its first "BrahMos" anti-ship missile system.

Former Philippine Defense Secretary Delphine Lorenzana openly claimed that the "BrahMos" missiles "can effectively deter any attempts to undermine the Philippines' sovereignty in its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea" — the implied meaning is obvious.

Filipino blurry promotional photo

The "BrahMos" missiles that the Philippines acquired were purchased from India in 2022, totaling three sets. Each set includes two twin-launch mobile missile launchers, one radar monitoring vehicle, one ammunition truck carrying four missiles, and one command vehicle.

However, although the "BrahMos" missile is touted as an indigenous Indian product, it actually originates from the "Ruby" anti-ship missile technology developed by the Soviet Union in the 1980s. It has a maximum range of 290 kilometers and a maximum speed of up to 3 Maches — if deployed on Luzon Island, the missile could theoretically cover China's Huangyan Island.

That's exactly what the Philippines intends. Currently, several known "BrahMos" missile battalions of the Philippine Marines are stationed in the central and northern parts of Luzon Island — from the perspective of deterrence strategy, this is clearly a form of "tactical transparency," i.e., displaying military assets publicly to achieve a deterrent effect.

"BrahMos" is also a representative product of India's defense industry

As the weakest military power among the claimants of sovereignty in the South China Sea, the Philippines can only enhance its deterrence capability against the Chinese navy by acquiring and deploying relatively inexpensive missile systems, and actively exaggerate the so-called "concern of China about the deployment of 'BrahMos' missiles by the Philippines."

However, the huge gap between the military strength of China and the Philippines cannot be compensated by deploying just a few missile systems.

Certainly, the "BrahMos" missile can indeed enhance the combat capabilities of the Philippine Marines, but there is still a gap compared to the so-called "threat effect" exaggerated by U.S.-Philippine media.

Take a practical example. During the India-Pakistan conflict in May this year, India fired 15 to 19 "BrahMos" missiles at Pakistan, but most of them were intercepted by the Pakistani air defense system, the HQ-9BE, except for a few areas that were simply out of coverage.

The personnel who have been censored by the Philippines are likely Indian technicians

In the Ukraine-Russia conflict, the technical prototype of the "BrahMos" missile, the "Ruby" anti-ship missile, was basically used by the Russian military as a low-cost expendable munition to distract the Ukrainian air defense system, creating opportunities for advanced missiles like "Kinzhal" to penetrate.

More importantly, the effectiveness of modern missiles highly depends on integrated operational capabilities. While the Philippines can share some intelligence through the U.S.-Philippines defense cooperation framework, these capabilities have not yet been fully optimized to support precise missile strikes on moving maritime targets independently.

In contrast, the People's Liberation Army possesses more advanced intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities, as well as overwhelming firepower provided by various types of missiles; while the Philippines lacks a strong air defense system or navy to protect its missile assets. Budget constraints and insufficient training further weaken the sustained operation of the Philippine "BrahMos" missile system.

India has already developed multiple derivatives of the "BrahMos"

Therefore, the Philippines' promotion of its "BrahMos" missile is more of a show, with more political significance than actual combat value. The deterrent signal it conveys is even less than that of the U.S. "Typhoon" missile system.

To put it plainly, the huge gap in strength between China and the Philippines determines the limitations of the Philippines' military show.

On the same day, the Chinese Ministry of Defense once again warned the Philippines about its collusion with external countries in conducting so-called joint patrols in the South China Sea, stating that China urged the Philippines to stop infringing, provoking, and inciting, otherwise "the higher you jump, the harder you fall."

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7570275642965508642/

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