The U.S. has provided the Philippine Navy with a number of unmanned surface vehicles (USV) through foreign military financing to help defend Manila’s exclusive economic zone and sovereignty in the South China Sea.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro revealed the transfer today during a press confrence in Palawan, where they witnessed the Philippine Navy demonstrate the new American-provided capability. According to Austin and the Pentagon, the drones are the MANTAS T-12 USVs from Maritime Tactical Systems (MARTAC). “The T-12 is a key capability used by Philippine forces to protect its sovereignty and operate throughout its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea,” stated the Pentagon.
The MANTAS T-12 is 3.6 meters long and can support payloads of up to 64 kilograms. Missions listed also include surveillance, swarming operations, and electronic warfare, according to an infographic from the company on the system. A feature of the USV highlighted by MARTAC that customers could purchase is its “gator mode,” a semi-submersible capability that would awash the MANTAS T-12 for stealth missions. While the exact specifications of the Philippine Navy’s variants are unclear, an image of the drone from the service’s recent Asymmetric Warfare Symposium reveals what appears to be a mounted EO/IR system and Starlink terminal.
Austin claimed that the drones arrived in the Philippines this year through a security assistance scheme and that the U.S. expects to fund more USVs via the $500 million of foreign military financing previously pledged to Manila in July. “These developments ensure that the Philippines has the capabilities it needs to defend its rights and its sovereignty throughout its exclusive economic zone,” said Austin.
Naval News previously reported on the existence of the Philippine Navy’s new USV unit in an interview with the former commander of the Philippine Navy, Toribio Adaci, during the Asia Defense and Security Exhibition in September. Adaci claimed that the service needed USVs to enhance the country’s maritime domain awareness within its exclusive economic zone, which has been constantly impeded by Chinese forces in an ongoing dispute between Manila and Beijing in the South China Sea.
The USVs are the first in Philippine Navy history, coming amid the use of these cheap asymmetric systems by the Ukrainian Navy in the Black Sea as well as the Houthis against global shipping and an international coalition in the Red Sea. With the disparity in capabilities between the Philippines and China, Collin Koh, a Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, explained to Naval News that the Philippines putting these systems into “frontline service” in an area like Palawan, a province facing the disputed South China Sea, is a first for the region.
Koh highlighted the small size of the system, which is considerably smaller than the USVs currently being employed by Ukrainian and Houthi forces, mentioning that it could perform limited combat and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions. He also cited their potential as a resupply asset for Manila’s outpost throughout the South China Sea, particularly for BRP Sierra Madre (LT-57).
“Granted, the USV may still carry a limited payload for resupply, hence might be an alternative asset to tap on for those RORE missions, for which larger manned vessels might be more suitable in carrying such payloads. But the potential is there surely: if there’s a sufficient mass of these USVs, the AFP can fine-tune its RORE strategy; not just using them as alternatives but even primary platforms of choice, especially given the Chinese interdiction activities around Second Thomas Shoal,” said Koh.
Questions remain about the susceptibility of the USVs to electronic warfare and other countermeasures that could be employed by the People’s Liberation Army to counter these new systems, with Koh noting that Chinese forces “keenly watch and draw lessons from the war in Ukraine.”
Despite these potential shortcomings, Koh stressed that the drone transfer went beyond traditional American defense transfers and signified “Washington’s willingness to up the game in such capacity-building efforts.”
“Transfers of USV capability would be something new – it not only signals U.S. commitment to bolster maritime security and naval defense in Southeast Asia but also reflects a recognition of how such capacity building assistance needs to keep pace with evolving modern naval warfare. The Ukraine example would be illustrative here in highlighting the growing importance of unmanned naval warfare.”
The Pentagon also unveiled its new Maritime Security Consortium private-public initiative on the same day as Austin’s unveiling of the Philippines’ new MANTAS T-12 USVs, signaling Washington’s intentions to provide more capabilities throughout the region to bolster states that are impacted by Chinese maritime claims in the South China Sea. According to the Pentagon, $95 million worth of maritime security capabilities are set to be delivered to countries across Southeast Asia in the next few months, with key demonstrations planned during Balikatan 2025 in the Philippines.
