India wants to establish itself as a significant arms supplier in the area, and one of its goals is to play a significant role in the Philippines’ military modernization.

As part of the first-ever India-Philippines defence industry seminar, the Indian Embassy in the Philippines sent a business team to Manila last week to present its in-country defence platforms and look into possible defence industry collaborations.

Representatives from around 20 Indian defence businesses were in attendance, including Mahindra Emirates Vehicle Armouring, Bharat Dynamics Ltd., DCM Shriram Industries Ltd., and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.

Re-Horizon 3, a P2-trillion updated military modernization plan, was recently approved by President Marcos and would be carried out during the following ten years.

“We have fighter planes and naval systems.”

Manila has not yet used the $100 million credit line that New Delhi had extended to help with its defence requirements.

Negotiations broke down after Netanyahu labelled Hamas demands as “delusional.”

We are very much willing to make an offer. We have made it known that we want to provide a soft loan for defence purchases, which may also apply to initiatives that lead to the future expansion of cooperative industrial projects, according to Kumaran.

We’ll simply have to wait and watch when it arrives from the Philippines, he continued. “From what I understand, the Philippine side is currently trying to put in place a framework in which they want to develop this entire self-defence posture programme.”

According to Kumaran, India might support the Philippines’ aspirations to establish an independent defence strategy. The Department of National Defence has been advocating for a strategy that gives preference to domestic vendors in order to reduce reliance on outside assistance for its defence needs.

“We would like to provide collaborations from India in establishing that capacity. We recognise that nations like the Philippines, which have broad national security objectives, will need to have some domestic industrial capacity. Thus, I believe that this is a very essential endeavour that looks to the future rather than the here and now, said Kumaran.

India has a track record of successfully developing its own technologies, building up its own capabilities, and expanding those into larger industrial capacity. Thus, we are prepared to provide our