AFP chief bats for ‘missile regiment’ for supersonic cruise missile acquisition

MANILA, Philippines — To complement the country’s acquisition of a supersonic cruise missile system, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief-of-Staff Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. is proposing the creation of a permanent Army unit that will be in charge of the weapon’s maintenance and usage.

“Because of the new advent of technology in warfare, we will have to also adjust doctrines and our organization,” Brawner said in response to Senator Risa Hontiveros’ question about his flagship programs as the head of AFP  during Wednesday’s Commission on Appointments deliberation.

“For instance, because of the arrival of missile systems which we’ll be using to defend our territory from possible external aggression, we will have to create units that will be able to man these modern weapons,”

“In the Philippine Army, for instance, we are proposing for the creation of a missile regiment which will be the one in charge of maintaining and, later on if needed, firing these weapon systems,” said Brawner, who was  Army chief prior assuming the top AFP post.

Brawner was referring to the state-of-the-art supersonic cruise missiles acquired by the Philippines from the Indo-Russian defense contractor BrahMos aerospace.

The delivery of the missiles, mobile launchers and other equipment is scheduled in December 2023.

In 2021, the Philippines ordered three batteries of cruise missiles worth about P18.9 billion, as part of the Philippine Navy’s shore-based anti-ship missile system project.

The Army also expressed interest in acquiring missile batteries as part of its land-based anti-ship missile system requirements, but this acquisition has yet to push through.

A missile battery is composed of three mobile autonomous launchers each with two or three missile tubes each.

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