The Philippines Should Integrate Drones into “Tatag Kapuluan”
By: COL Dencio S. Acop (Ret), PhD, CPP | Published: August 19, 2025
Reading Time: 9 minutes
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — Drone warfare is the future of warfighting! It is perfect for asymmetrical warfare which favors weaker militaries against stronger ones. But the use of military drones is also not confined to underdog military organizations. The ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East prove this. While the Houthis effectively used drones to target global shipping and an international coalition in the Red Sea, Russia is counter-deploying drones from China against Ukraine.
As a former soldier, I can see more and more how military drones are redefining traditional military strategies and tactics along with organizational structure and the ethics of war. There is no stopping the radical advance of technology impacting human life today across all spheres. As military technologies develop, especially ones that prove cost-effective relative to very expensive weapons systems, countries will find it in their best interest to invest or acquire military drones for their national defense and security.
The world knows that China is on the march everywhere. In the South China Sea, China aims to solidify its control over it as its own, containing the United States, and establishing itself as the dominant power in the Indo-Pacific region. Relative to the Philippines, China is achieving its goal through a combination of military force, coercion, and “gray zone” tactics which include strategic ambiguity and calculated escalation rather than a full-scale invasion. This approach aims to gradually establish control over disputed areas while minimizing the risk of direct military conflict with the United States.
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It is in line with this that the Philippines should integrate drone warfare into its Campaign Plan “Tatag Kapuluan” against China for the warfighting advantages drones inflict on even vastly superior militaries like the People’s Liberation Army. The Armed Forces of the Philippines should also reorganize itself away from its traditionally rigid structure into one that is more flexible, adaptable, and interoperative with not only its service branches but also its regional defense allies.
Spying by China, which includes the establishment of drone-enabling AI data centers within Philippine territory, must be effectively addressed by promptly denying and removing these which are part of China’s civilian-military integration strategically targeting access into Philippine national security and sovereignty.
First point – how should the Philippines integrate drones into its warfighting capabilities articulated in its campaign plan against China? Essentially and gradually, the Armed Forces of the Philippines will need to integrate drones of every kind (aerial, water, ground) into its military operations for all necessary and wide range of tasks including surveillance, reconnaissance, combat support, and combat operations through precision strikes.
Here’s a breakdown of how these military drones can be integrated and deployed:
1.) Surveillance and Reconnaissance – Drones equipped with high-resolution cameras, infrared sensors, and other advanced technologies provide real-time intelligence on enemy positions, troop movements, and potential threats. This enhanced situational awareness allows for more informed, accurate, and timely decision-making and therefore better planning of military operations. Tethered (connected to a laptop with internet connection) drones, in particular, can provide persistent surveillance for extended periods, offering a continuous flow of intel.
2.) Combat and Combat Support – Drones can be armed with precision-guided munitions, allowing for targeted strikes on enemy personnel and assets, while minimizing collateral damage. They can also be used for electronic warfare, jamming enemy communications, and suppressing enemy air defenses. The defensive purposes using drones countering these actions are also true. Drones can likewise be used to deliver logistics, evacuate casualties, and even perform search and rescue missions, further reducing the risk to human personnel.
3.) Command and Control – Drones can serve as communication relays extending the range of military communications in areas where traditional infrastructure is compromised. They can also be used to transmit real-time video feeds and sensor data to commanders, providing a comprehensive overview of the battlefield.
4.) Training and Testing – Drones are used for target practice and training exercises, allowing soldiers to hone their skills in a safe and controlled environment. They can also be used for testing new technologies and weapons systems, accelerating the development and deployment of advanced military capabilities.
5.) The Rise of AI and Autonomous Systems – The integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning into drone technology is leading to more autonomous systems that can perform complex missions with minimal human intervention. This includes autonomous navigation, target identification, and even decision-making in certain situations. Future military drones are expected to operate in coordinated swarms, significantly increasing their effectiveness, lethality, and impact.
6.) Counter-Drone Systems – As drones become more prevalent, the AFP must also be able to deploy counter-drone systems to detect, track, and neutralize enemy drones. Such systems will include a variety of technologies such as kinetic interceptors, electronic warfare tools, and directed energy weapons.
7.) The Impact of Drone Warfare – The AFP must be aware that drone warfare is the future of warfighting and its use will only increase, not decrease. As can be learned from ongoing global conflicts today in Ukraine and the Middle East, the increasing use of drone warfare illustrates this undeniable shift in the nature of conflict resorted to by all protagonists. There is now much greater emphasis on remote warfare. The use of drones will also reduce the need for human personnel.
8.) Drone warfare is perfect for the Philippines against China. Drones are an equalizing weapons system by a relatively weaker AFP against a much stronger PLA. Drones are relatively cheaper than ballistic missile systems. They are unmanned, reducing the danger to combat troops. They can be autonomous. Defensively and offensively, drones offer great advantages across the archipelagic terrain of the Philippines. Ultimately, drones will be designed to carry tactical nuclear warheads even if their loading capacity does not allow them to carry strategic warheads.
9.) However, it must also be noted that the increasing reliance on artificial intelligence in military drones necessitates addressing ethical and strategic concerns, particularly in regard to autonomous weaponry and the potential escalation of conflicts.
Second point – the Armed Forces of the Philippines should also reorganize itself away from its traditionally rigid structure into one that is more flexible, adaptable, and interoperative with not only its service branches but also its regional defense allies.
Apart from prioritizing military drone acquisition in its list of desired defense inventory, the Philippines should carefully study how it can adjust its military hierarchy and structure to accommodate the effective use and deployment of military drones. Any such changes must be done objectively with only the optimal realization of national security as the absolute motivation.
These necessary initiatives need not divert from what are already the essential tasks of command leadership: the timely accomplishment of the mission, the welfare and well-being of the men and women in uniform, and the maximum efficient utilization of scarce national resources. Essentially, drone warfare will have unmanned drones bearing the brunt of what used to be areas manned by human soldiers.
But with their multi-faceted technological capabilities, unmanned drones can practically and increasingly perform all military missions: combat operations, combat support operations, and combat service support operations.
The only human supplier is the flight controller (FC) who could be army, air force, or navy / marine. The service branches will need to integrate military drones into their picture. For instance, the predominantly army AFP can deploy ground control stations throughout the archipelago leaving no critical ground terrain unmanned.
The navy and marines can ensure that all critical coastal terrains are adequately covered. And the air force should deploy according to its knowledge of the air paths relative to the local terrains below allowing for optimal cover and concealment. The integrated interlocking of all offensive and defensive forces from these service branch deployments using drones will enhance “Tatag Kapuluan” in ways never done before in Philippine military history.
Moreover, these integrations should consider potential contributions from defense allies filling-in the gaps not adequately covered by local deployments. It is therefore also critical to ensure that territorial sea lanes vital to logistical supply chains and massive troop deployments remain free and sovereign.
Finally, our third point – spying by China, which includes the establishment of drone-enabling AI data centers within Philippine territory, must be effectively addressed by promptly denying and removing them which are all part of China’s civilian-military integration targeting access into Philippine national security and sovereignty. We shouldn’t kid ourselves.
“Tatag Kapuluan” will only be as effective as denying area access and enforcing area denial (A2/AD) operations against China with regards to its AI data center investments which are already within Philippine territory. Make no mistake about it. We are already compromised if we do not disallow Chinese AI data centers into Manila and the rest of the archipelago.
The first principle of security against a threatening intruder is access control. Once a spy is let in through a trojan horse, the protagonist defender is already at a vast disadvantage vis-à-vis the offensive antagonist who knows his opponent’s every move. The same is true with the AI data centers which can and will access every Filipino database in order to further China’s national interest at the expense of Filipino national security. This is during the static phase.
During the kinetic phase, the Chinese AI data centers will play a crucial role in the control and operation of military drones. These data centers will process vast amounts of data to enable these drones.
To again summarize, these drones are capable of: autonomous operations, real-time data processing and decision-making, enhanced navigation and targeting, threat identification and response, swarming and collaborative multi-drone tasking, and adaptive mission planning.
Two Chinese companies operating AI data centers are already in the Philippines: Alibaba Cloud and Hive Hybrid data centers. The former was established in 2021; the latter just recently. But a third Chinese company, China Huaxin, recently won a bid to construct data centers for China Telecom / DITO at eleven (11) sites across five (5) regions in the Philippines.
The specific locations of these 11 sites are not detailed in the search results but are distributed across the Philippine archipelago. Further, Alibaba is reportedly opening a second data center in October 2025. The presence of these foreign-owned or developed data centers should raise questions and concerns regarding Filipino personal data security and national security.
An effective counter-strategy to this “gray-zone” tactic of China enabled by its Civilian-Military Integration strategic initiative is for the Philippines to maximize its legal power while its partner the United States uses coercive power. Both approaches are within the international rule of law ensuring freedom of navigation through international sea lanes according to UNCLOS.
Also, the tie that binds is the 1951 RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty which basically says that an attack on one is an attack on the other as well. The Philippines’ legal weapons are its constitution and the 2016 arbitration ruling it won over China.
The power of the US is the fact that it is still relatively stronger than China militarily and this is the reason why China is afraid to confront the US which is presently constructing a boat repair facility just off Palawan not far from the Spratlys where the PLA is. Whether it is a 19% or 20% tariff, the Philippines can still benefit from the US – the muscle it needs to complement its brains.
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