US tools up Philippines with kit to trigger war with China
Thu 9:09 pm +00:00, 25 Jun 2026
The New Atlas
🇺🇸🇨🇳🇵🇭 US Continues Turning Philippines into “Asia’s Ukraine,” Using US-Ukraine Drones
▪️USNI reports US is arming the Philippines with the same drones used against Russia via Ukraine – including maritime drones used to target/destroy commercial shipping and military vessels;
▪️The NYT previously revealed Ukraine drone strikes are actually carried out by the US, meaning similar anti-China operations are likewise conducted by the US simply attributing them to the “Philippines;”
▪️The US is encouraging the Philippines to carry out an escalating self-destructive confrontation with China over useless contested waters, increasingly at the cost of peace and stability for the entire region;
▪️USNI specifically mentions holding shipping “under threat” just as the US has in the Black Sea & the Strait of Hormuz, signaling the expansion of an already global US operation targeting maritime shipping;
▪️This indicates the US is rushing forward, not “retreating” from global conflict, chaos, and pursued primacy;
U.S. Asymmetric Aid Program Transfers Unmanned Vessels to the Philippines, Plans Attack Drone Transfer by 2027
Aaron-Matthew Lariosa
June 23, 2026 11:42 AM – Updated: June 23, 2026 4:43 PM
An undated photo of Triton autonomous underwater and surface vehicles. Ocean Aero photo
MANILA, PHILIPPINES – The latest tranche of American-made and funded drones were formally received by Philippine forces this week ahead of Washington’s larger plans to equip the Southeast Asian ally with asymmetric capabilities that could prove crucial in monitoring and deterring Beijing in the South China Sea.
Four Ocean Aero Triton autonomous underwater and surface vehicles were delivered on Monday to the Philippine Navy as part of Washington’s drone-focused asymmetric capabilities program. The program, which is a security assistance initiative, has outlined U.S. plans to arm Manila with “lethal capabilities” – such as armed drones – by 2027, USNI News has learned.
U.S. planners have turned to commercial off-the-shelf systems and sensors to quickly increase Philippine maritime domain awareness.
The program initially focused on the Philippine Navy, which formed an unmanned surface vessel unit in 2024, but has since expanded to include the Philippine Marine Corps. The Philippine Army is also eyeing asymmetric systems via the initiative, a U.S. military official familiar with the matter told USNI News.
One of four Ocean Aero Triton autonomous underwater and surface vehicles displayed June 22, 2026, at the Philippine Navy’s Naval Operating Base Subic. Philippine Navy photo
Additional equipment is slated for Manila through the asymmetric capabilities program, with Philippine services training in anticipation for future drone transfers.
The Ocean Aero Triton autonomous underwater and surface vehicles delivered on Monday were built by American defense contractor Ocean Aero. These solar-powered drones can operate for up to one month monitoring surface and undersea activities.
The U.S. Embassy in the Philippines highlighted the drones’ endurance and maritime domain awareness capabilities in support of Manila’s efforts to counter “threats to freedom of navigation,” according to a news release.
U.S. and Philippine planners want to deploy the drones as a part of a larger formation of unmanned systems and sensors to create a mesh network that can detect and track maritime activities, a capability which would greatly aid Manila’s forces against China’s expansive efforts to enforce its territorial claims over the South China Sea.
Manila has been at the forefront of coercive Chinese efforts to claim reefs within its exclusive economic zone. Sabina, Second Thomas and Scarborough shoals are among the many flashpoints between the two countries.
With decades of focus oriented toward counter-insurgency operations across the jungles, mountains and littorals of the archipelago, the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ shift to external threats has manifested challenges in procurement, command and control and maritime operations.
Compounding the reorientation are the capabilities that China can bring to bear. The People’s Liberation Army Navy has a near-constant military presence within a few hundred miles of Philippine shores, by way of round-the-clock naval and air deployments supported by artificial island bases.
To counter Beijing’s forces, Washington and Manila are deploying tactics, technologies and unmanned systems that are similar to those fielded by Ukraine against Russia. While Philippine military commanders have repeated the need to learn from the Eastern European war for years, efforts to bring them into practice have recently accelerated over the past two years.
A U.S. Army Green Beret assigned to 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) remotely launches an unmanned surface vessel from a dock in preparation for Maritime Strike-North as part of Exercise Balikatan 2026 in Batanes, Philippines, April 23, 2026. US Marine Corps photo
Last month, Army Green Berets lowered a large explosive device into a Ukrainian Magura unmanned surface vessel. These drone boats have sunk and harassed numerous Russian naval vessels in the Black Sea. When combined with other unmanned systems, long-range missile threats and other asymmetric strategies, Kyiv’s collective efforts resulted in the effective confinement of Moscow’s naval forces.
During Balikatan 2026, the Magura drone sank a target vessel in the Luzon Strait. This was the first live maritime strike drill in the strategic waterway in the history of the U.S.-Philippine alliance. It also demonstrated Washington’s ability to hold adversaries traversing the waters between the Philippines and Taiwan under threat.
U.S. Army and Marine Corps units also fielded numerous attack drones and one way attack munitions to strike mock amphibious landing craft.
The U.S.-Philippine alliance’s integration of unmanned maritime and air systems matches a broader trend across the first island chain. Taiwan and Japan are also looking toward low-cost and rapidly-producible drones to enhance their posture against naval threats from China.
