What’s in the news?

• India has delivered the first batch of BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles to the Philippines.
• The Philippines is acquiring the systems under Horizon Two of the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Programme. 
• In January 2022, the Philippines concluded a 375-million-dollar deal with India for three batteries of the shore-based, anti-ship variant of the BrahMos, becoming the first export customer for the joint venture missile between India and Russia. 
• BrahMos is a joint venture between DRDO and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya, and the missile derives its name from the Brahmaputra and Moskva rivers. 
• It has a flight range of up to 290 kilometres at supersonic speed. It carries a conventional warhead weighing two hundred to three hundred kilograms. 
• The missile is capable of being launched from land, sea, sub-sea, and air against surface and sea-based targets and has been long inducted by the Indian armed forces.