By Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News
In the midst of increasing pressure from China, the Philippine Navy is bolstering its ability to monitor the waters surrounding the island nation with a new unmanned surface vessel (USV) unit.
The unmanned vessels will add their capabilities to those of existing Philippine warships in a concept known as Manned-Unmanned Teaming.
The Flag Officer-in-Command of the Philippine Navy, Vice Admiral Toribio Adaci, discussed the new unit with Naval News at Asia Defense and Security 2024, a military exhibition in Manila.
“We have to have USV units for IST (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) purposes so that we can improve our capability for maritime domain awareness, “ Adaci told the publication. “That’s how modern navies now evolve, using unmanned systems to complement manned systems.”
The USV unit would be part of an overall modernization of the Philippine Navy, with the priority being surface vessels and anti-submarine warfare. All this is taking place as China becomes more aggressive in the South China Sea.
This year, a number of incidents have occurred near what has become a familiar place – the Second Thomas Shoal. It’s located in the Philippines 200-mile exclusive economic zone, and Manila has a deliberately-grounded warship and a small group of personnel there.
But Beijing claims roughly 90 percent of the South China Sea as its own. And the Chinese coast guard has used water cannon and ramming tactics to harass Philippine ships that patrol the region and resupply its forces on the shoal.
The Chinese moves have led the US and the Philippines to deepen their military alliance. There have been multiple joint exercises involving thousands of troops this year. During one of those drills, the US deployed medium-range missiles in the Philippines – the first time since the Cold War the US has placed such weapons in Asia.
Still, the Philippines wants to do more than just rely on the US. Earlier this year, President Ferdinand Marcos Junior gave the green light to what’s called the Re-Horizon 3 program, a plan to consolidate previous military modernization efforts that were never completed.
Plus, the Navy has bought the Indian-made BrahMos supersonic anti-ship cruise missile, along with other weapons systems from South Korea and Israel.
Admiral Adaci told Naval News the Philippines will carry out exercises with more countries than it has in the past.
“During our time when we had a lack of multilateral cooperative activities, it used to be bilateral exercises with the US,” Adaci said. “But now it is common to see Philippine Navy ships,US Navy ships, Australian Navy ships, Japanese Navy ships, French ships, sailing together. “
