Locally made drones eyed for Philippine military

MANILA, Philippines – After apparent success in building microsatellites to observe the Philippines’ land and water territory, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is now keen on developing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones to help the military conduct surveillance closer to earth.

Carlos Primo David, executive director of the DOST Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD), said the department has begun initial talks with the Department of National Defense (DND).

“We are in the process of coming up with a memorandum of agreement with the DND for military research,” David told reporters in a press briefing recently at the UP Diliman Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute after the successful launch of private cargo spacecraft Cygnus, which transported the Philippines’ first fully designed and built microsatellite Diwata-1 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida to the International Space Station.

“It’s about time we also do research for military purposes,” David said.

David said that the DOST hoped to build UAVs that will be useful to the Armed Forces for surveillance and reconnaissance.

“This will be more high-tech UAVs which we in PCIEERD feel our researchers in universities can fabricate,” David explained.

David said that Ateneo de Manila, UP Diliman and FEATI have existing programs doing R&D on UAV development.