Indian Naval Ships Sahyadri and Kulish arrived at Subic Bay port in the Philippines on Sunday, 21 September 2026, to participate in the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM)-Plus Joint Cooperation Activity (JCA). The deployment is part of the Indian Navy's operational rollout and directly reflects New Delhi's Act East Policy and the MAHASAGAR (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions) vision.

What the ADMM-Plus Exercise Involves

The ADMM-Plus JCA brings together maritime forces from ASEAN Member States and eight Plus countries for professional and operational engagements. According to the Ministry of Defence, the primary objectives are enhancing interoperability, fostering mutual understanding, and strengthening cooperation across the maritime domain.

The presence of Sahyadri and Kulish will enable the Indian Navy to engage with participating maritime forces through joint professional activities, contributing to a deeper understanding of shared challenges — from freedom of navigation to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

India-Philippines Ties: Growing Strategic Depth

The port call comes at a moment of measurable momentum in the bilateral relationship. India and the Philippines formalised a Strategic Partnership in August 2025, during the state visit of Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to India. The Ministry of Defence noted that the current deployment builds directly on that foundation, offering an opportunity to deepen professional linkages between the two navies.

This visit is not isolated. On 13 September 2026, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Marcos held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 18th BRICS Summit, reviewing progress under the Strategic Partnership. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated that both leaders 'expressed satisfaction at the progress made in bilateral cooperation across all areas and agreed to further deepen and expand collaboration in the fields of defence and security, trade and investment, space, railway infrastructure, fintech, education, tourism, science and technology, innovation and people-to-people ties.'

BRICS Summit and ASEAN Linkages

Prime Minister Modi welcomed the Philippines' participation in the BRICS Summit in its capacity as the current ASEAN Chair. He also welcomed Manila's decision to join the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure — a multilateral platform championed by India — signalling convergence on climate resilience and disaster-preparedness as emerging pillars of the partnership.

This comes amid an increasingly active Indo-Pacific strategic environment, where India's maritime posture and ASEAN engagement have taken on added significance. Notably, the ADMM-Plus format is one of the few multilateral platforms where India, China, and Western Indo-Pacific partners all participate, making India's visible role in the exercise diplomatically significant.

India's Broader Indo-Pacific Deployment

The arrival of INS Sahyadri and INS Kulish at Subic Bay is part of a sustained operational deployment pattern by the Indian Navy in the Indo-Pacific. India has progressively expanded port calls, passage exercises (PASSEX), and multilateral drills across Southeast Asia, reflecting a policy commitment to being a 'net security provider' in the region. The Subic Bay visit reinforces that posture, with analysts noting that India's naval presence in Philippine waters sends a calibrated signal of solidarity with a country navigating its own maritime pressures in the South China Sea.

How the two navies leverage the ADMM-Plus JCA framework for deeper bilateral exercises in the months ahead will be closely watched.