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NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India-based defence company BrahMos Aerospace expects to close a deal this year to sell Indonesia supersonic cruise missiles worth at least $200 million, as it looks to expand its presence in Southeast Asia, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

BrahMos, a joint venture between India and Russia, clinched its first foreign deal last year with a $375 million sale of shore-based anti-ship missiles to the Philippines - part of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious push to triple defence exports.

The company has been in protracted negotiations with Indonesia and details about the size and timeline of a potential deal have not been previously reported.

BrahMos Aerospace CEO Atul D. Rane said that it was in advanced discussions with Jakarta on a deal worth $200 million to $350 million under which it had offered to supply shore-based missiles and a version that can be mounted on warships.

"I have a team right now in Jakarta," Rane told Reuters in an interview, adding that a deal could be in place within the year. "The defence forces of Indonesia are extremely interested."

A spokesperson for Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto on Wednesday declined to give immediate comment and said he needed to first check the information.

BrahMos is also aiming to land a follow-on order of around $300 million with the Philippines, where its missiles are scheduled to be delivered to the Philippine Marine Corps starting at the end of 2023, Rane said.

"The Philippines themselves have sort of indicated to us that this is just an ice breaker," Rane said, referring to the 2022 sale. "They are looking at more systems."

A spokesperson for the Philippine Department of National Defence did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

DEFENCE SPENDING

In response to a growing Chinese maritime presence in the South China Sea and some surrounding areas, Indonesia and the Philippines have ramped up their spending on the procurement of weapons and other military equipment, according to data from defence intelligence company Janes.

Indonesia's investment in the acquisition of new weapons grew by nearly 28% in 2021 and 69% in 2022, while the Philippines saw a rise of 29% in 2021 and 40% in 2022 - far higher than the average in Southeast Asia, the data shows.

"Territorial disputes with China have been a major concern for most of the Southeast Asian countries which is driving their defence budget to meet their security requirements," said Akash Pratim Debbarma, an aerospace and defence analyst at GlobalData.

Much of Southeast Asia's new military purchases come from traditional suppliers, including the United States, France and Russia, but India - the world's largest defence importer - and BrahMos are trying to make inroads.

"We have got the go-ahead to market to every country in southeast Asia from both the government of India and the government of Russia," said Rane.

BrahMos was established through an inter-governmental agreement in 1998 as a joint venture between India's state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation and NPO Mashinostroyenia of Russia.

Western-led sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine have not impacted BrahMos production or planning, said Rane.

Although BrahMos missiles still depend on Russian parts and raw material, Rane said the percentage of local input had gone up to over 70% from around 15% at the start of the venture.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey will continue discussions to extend a deal that allows grain shipments from Ukraine's Black Sea ports for 120 days rather than 60 days, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said on Wednesday.

"We started negotiations in line with the initial version of the deal. The continuation of the deal is important. We will continue our contacts (regarding its extension for) 120 days instead of two months," Akar said according to a statement by the defence ministry.

Parties of the deal will evaluate and decide on a further extension of the agreement, Akar also said, adding that Ankara hoped for a positive outcome.

The deal reached in July last year created a protected sea transit corridor and was designed to alleviate global food shortages by allowing exports to resume from three ports in Ukraine, a major producer of grains and oilseeds.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke to his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, on Wednesday and Moscow said it was counting on the elaboration of an "overall" deal taking into account concerns about its own farm and fertiliser exports.

"(Russia's) position was confirmed concerning the need to achieve the full and good-neighbourly implementation of the U.N. general secretary on ensuring free access to world markets for Ukrainian grain and Russian fertiliser and foodstuffs," the foreign ministry said on its website.

Since Russia and Ukraine signed the U.N.-backed Black Sea Grain Initiative in Turkey on July 22, millions of tonnes of grain and other food products have been exported from Ukrainian ports, helping lower global food prices from record highs.

As the talks continued, Russia suggested allowing the deal to be renewed for 60 days, half the term of the previous renewal, but Ukraine rejected it.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The 2024 Republican presidential race could become a contest between isolationists and foreign policy hawks after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sent his strongest signal yet he does not believe support for Ukraine is in the US national interest, analysts, strategists and campaign aides said on Tuesday.

The war in Ukraine provides a new battleground for declared and as yet undeclared Republican 2024 hopefuls that could shape how the party engages with the world for years to come, those people said.

On the one side are former President Donald Trump and DeSantis, who is testing the waters for a White House run.

Although the governor has not yet officially declared himself a candidate, he and Trump are the clear front runners in the Republican race. Both have dismissed US support for Ukraine and other allies as a waste of resources and said that leaders should pay more attention to issues at home.

On the other side, a slew of declared and likely Republican challengers - including former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence - have portrayed themselves as steadfast defenders of Ukraine, willing to stand up to U.S. foes including Russia and China.

Caught in the middle is the Republican electorate, which is split on whether the US should support Ukraine and how the nation should engage with the world more generally, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling.

Once the party of foreign policy "hawks," Republicans have increasingly cooled on foreign entanglements and military support for allies, particularly after Trump took office in 2016.

The ideological shift of the party - which led the US to war in Iraq and Afghanistan two decades ago - was laid bare on Monday when conservative television host Tucker Carlson posted on Twitter responses from Republican candidates and possible hopefuls to questions on the war in Ukraine.

"While the US has many vital national interests ... becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them," DeSantis said in his reply.

Some Republicans were quick to hit back.

In a statement on Tuesday, Haley reiterated her support for Ukraine. "America is far better off with a Ukrainian victory," she wrote.

Republican senators Marco Rubio, who is from DeSantis' home state, and Lindsey Graham, both former presidential candidates, criticized isolationists within their party.

"When it comes to Putin, you either pay now or pay later," Graham wrote on Twitter, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"DeSantis's comments very much recall the Republican pre-World War Two tradition of so-called isolationism, which was really an indifference to European security," said Dan Fried, a former top State Department official under President George W. Bush who is now with the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington.

PARTY SPLIT

Republican voters are divided on the issue.

In a Reuters/Ipsos poll in February, 55% of Republicans said the United States should support democratic countries when they are attacked by non-democratic nations. Asked whether the US should continue sending weapons to Ukraine, self-identified Republicans were split 50-50.

"People care about foreign policy, but I think it's kind of mixed on Ukraine funding," said Trudy Caviness, a member of the Iowa Republican State Central Committee.

"What I've heard (from party members) is that we have to give them what we've promised so far and then move on."

Pollsters, analysts and campaign aides interviewed by Reuters said that DeSantis' embrace of a more isolationist approach could open the way for more hawkish candidates to appeal to the significant chunk of the Republican electorate that still prefers a more hands-on US foreign policy.

Several prospective candidates, including Haley, Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have made their foreign policy experience a key part of their pitch to voters.

By embracing Trump's hands-off brand of foreign policy, DeSantis risks turning off some of the white-collar Republicans that are most eager to move on from the former president.

While 46% of non-college educated Republicans said the United States should provide weapons to Ukraine, some 59% of those with a college degree said the US should provide arms to Ukraine, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in February.

However, many will be voting for personalities rather than policies, pollsters said. That will give the eventual winner of the Republican nomination significant power to shape the party's foreign policy preferences going forward.

"I think leadership matters a great deal on issues where voters can be a little unsure what they think about them," said Sarah Longwell, a Republican strategist.