Camille Naredo

Article (news)

PH navy

Bianca Dava

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1753875615512viber_image_2025-07-30_18-41-41-166.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Prototypes of unmanned surface vessels. Bianca Dava, ABS-CBN News"/>Prototypes of unmanned surface vessels. Bianca Dava, ABS-CBN News</div>MANILA — The Philippines is taking concrete steps to strengthen its defense capabilities through a Self-Reliant Defense Posture (SRDP).One key area of focus: unmanned technologies, such as drones and unmanned surface vessels (USVs).Speaking to reporters at the first-ever SRDP Forum organized by the Philippine Navy through the Naval Sea Systems Command and the Naval Research and Technology Development Center, Department of National Defense (DND) Assistant Secretary Augusto Gaite underscored the importance of unmanned technologies as part of an “asymmetric warfare” strategy.“That UAS is a tool for asymmetric warfare. We cannot go conventional with, let&#x27;s say, for example, for China. You can&#x27;t go conventional for that one. If you compare the number of forces that we have right now for the Navy and for the Air Force, we cannot compare that. That&#x27;s incomparable. But what would give us an edge for, let&#x27;s say, confrontation would be something like asymmetric. And that asymmetric would be what? Electronic warfare, and even UAS. And that UAS would be subsurface and surface and air. So that&#x27;s the technology that we have to have,” Gaite said.Unmanned systems are among the government’s top priorities under the revitalized SRDP, along with powder production, and the maintenance, repair and overhaul of current defense assets.A major hurdle, however, is the lack of funding for research and development, according to Gaite.“What is good about what we&#x27;re seeing right now is the UAS technology that we&#x27;re seeing right now can be developed further. The problem is, well… government support, even monetary support for the developers. And the developers you see are from academic institutions. So, where do they get the money? Even the schools, where do they get the money to push further? So, what we can do in the defense level is that we can get some investors that would like to and would be interested to invest to those technologies coming from schools. We can do that,” Gaite explained.He went on, “So if we&#x27;ll be able to link, imagine, a potential foreign investor would be interested in developing a UAS, whether it be air, land, or sea, or subsurface, then they can provide that much-needed research and development budget.”Security analyst Dr. Chester Cabalza noted that unmanned technologies are a strategic choice for the country, especially in a region facing growing maritime tensions.“We wanted to multiply these kinds of unmanned vehicles, especially drones, because, of course, the strategy of our neighbors is swarming. If we multiply these, at least we can conquer them when it comes to swarming strategy. At the same time, if we can perfect it, there&#x27;s a possibility for the Philippines to at least export some of these products,” Cabalza noted.“So, we know that our environment is very competitive. If we have a safe and, of course, encouraging space for many of our scientists, at least we could encourage many of them to at least multiply these kinds of products,” he added.Cabalza explained that drones and USVs are a “good start” for the Philippines, which may not match its neighbors in terms of conventional firepower.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1753875819833viber_image_2025-07-30_18-41-44-736.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Prototypes of unmanned surface vessels. Bianca Dava, ABS-CBN News"/>Prototypes of unmanned surface vessels. Bianca Dava, ABS-CBN News</div>“I think we need a niche market. We have to remember that drones are not new to us. During the Marawi Siege, we used [these] and we know that [these are] very helpful [for] external security. So, now that we&#x27;re expanding to external security, we really need drones and USVs. So, I think these are the mechanisms that we need right now to at least start this defense industry. Because we start with small things,” the analyst said.He continued: “Drones are really a good start for our country, given that, of course, we cannot compete with big-ticket projects, especially rockets, vessels that we see our neighbors can do. But, of course, with the genius of the Filipinos in coming up and creating with drones, I think we can compete with that kind of market.”Cabalza added, unmanned systems can serve both military and civilian purposes.“Our local inventors have already invented it. They can use it for dual use purposes: for the military and humanitarian purposes, especially that when it comes to our country, the calamity is really severe. So, I think that this could help us in terms of our disaster-based reduction. So, it will really help,” Cabalza said. “So, it&#x27;s a big thing to show the Filipinos that when we talk about SRDP, it&#x27;s not only for the military, but also to help the Filipinos who are in need of help.”But Gaite emphasized that these technologies must be carefully monitored to prevent misuse.“You can use and abuse technologies. So, we have to have some safety nets for that one. That&#x27;s why you have to have a government that would [put] those safety nets in place to monitor, to track where you use this technology for because you can use that technology for different things,” Gaite told reporters.“Like, for example, for AI, you can use it for positive things, as well as there&#x27;s a potential for negative things. So, technology is something like that. So, we have to have a safety net, a monitoring organization that would monitor the utilization of those technologies, especially for the future if it&#x27;s going to be used commercially. That&#x27;s where the safety nets are, so that national security is not compromised,” he further said.Captain Gregory Gerald Fabic, acting commander of the Philippine Navy’s Civil Military Operations Group, for his part, highlighted the importance of the SRDP Revitalization Act, which was signed into law in October 2024, in supporting local defense production.“It&#x27;s more robust, giving a chance for mostly our in-country resources like the human resources. We have very good, very brilliant scientists and engineers, and of course, the resources of what we have here in the Philippines. It will also pour out on the economic perspective and the hiring of our Filipino people,” he said.While the SRDP sets a strong foundation, Fabic admitted that some projects may take two to five years to fully materialize.Local industries, academic institutions and investors are continuously being called to take part.“We hope that this venue, particularly the Self-Reliant defense Posture Forum, will push further our SRDP. As mentioned a while ago, we were actually lagging behind, but hopefully this one will push it in a multiple fold to make up for those lost years. So, we are encouraging all academe and even local industries to invest or to partake in this SRDP project,” Fabic said.“We know that the current security landscape is quite volatile, and I think this is an intervention to what is happening in the region right now. Also, to not so much rely with the superpowers. This is our chance to show that we can defend our own and to show the strength of the Filipinos, our scientists, our economists, and at the same time, of course, this is also a good chance for us to encourage our young minds, like STEM students and also young professionals, scientists, to at least contribute to national security through national defense investment,” Cabalza added.

The Philippines is taking concrete steps to strengthen its defense capabilities through a Self-Reliant Defense Posture (SRDP).

The Philippines is taking concrete steps to strengthen its defense capabilities through a Self-Reliant Defense Posture (SRDP).

Unmanned surface vessels take center stage in PH Navy’s self-reliance push

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Unmanned surface vessels take center stage in PH Navy’s self-reliance push

Bianca Dava,

ABS-CBN News

Published Jul 30, 2025 07:47 PM PHT

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