NEW DELHI: India expects to sell short-range missiles to the Philippines this year in a deal worth more than $200 million, Indian sources said, for New Delhi's second major defence export contract with Manila. The Akash missile system developed by India's defence research body has drawn interest from the Philippines, which has told New Delhi it would make an order in the fiscal year that begins in April, said three sources.
The surface-to-air missile system with a range of up to 25 km was exported to Armenia last year in a $230-million deal, the sources said, adding that the Philippine sale is expected to be bigger than the Armenian deal. However, they did not reveal the number of missiles and accompanying systems, including radars, involved.
India's Bharat Dynamics Ltd, the manufacturer of the missiles, was one of the exhibitors at last year's Asian Defence and Security Exhibition in Manila.
The company and India's defence ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A Philippine defence spokesperson, Arsenio Andolong, declined to comment on the specifics of any deal or on plans for procurement, but said the country's armed forces had "manifested it requires these capabilities". — Reuters
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