AS drone warfare reshapes battlefields from Ukraine to the Middle East, the United States and the Philippines convened defense and law enforcement officials from seven Indo-Pacific nations last week to build regional shield against weaponized unmanned aircraft and the specter of terrorist chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) attacks.
The August 24-28 capstone event in Manila brought together senior operational commanders from Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.
The US, Embassy in Manila, in a statement said they held scenario-based drills on intelligence-sharing, crisis response, forensic investigation, and cross-border prosecution of drone-delivered CBRN threats.
The workshop was hosted by US State Department’s Bureau of Arms Control and Nonproliferation and the Philippines’ Anti-Terrorism Council Program Management Center.
The event closed a regional training arc launched in 2025 that zeroed in on the convergence of two assymetric threats – the flood of low-cost commercial drones and the persistent risk that CBRN materials could slip into the hands of violent non-state actors.
The Manila drills come against the backdrop of conflicts where cheap, mass-produced drones have already upended traditional defense calculus.
In Ukraine, first-person view (FPV) quadcopters costing a few hundred dollars have become frontline weapons, while Iranian-made Shahed loitering munitions-priced at a fraction of conventional cruise missiles-have forced Kyiv and Moscow to spend millions on interceptors, exposing the unsustainable cost-exchange ratio that now favors attackers.
The Strait of Hormuz has seen a parallel escalation. Iranian-backed militias and Houthi rebels have deployed swarms of low-cost drones against commercial
tankers and naval assets, forcing shipping companies to reroute vessels and insurers to increase premiums.
In March 2026, drone strikes on British bases in Cyprus underscored how attribution ambiguity can paralyze deterrence even in heavily contested maritime corridors.
‘This workshop shows what’s possible when countries combine ingenuity, expertise, and resolve,’ ATC Program Management Center Executive Director Undersecretary Hansel M. Marantan said.
‘Together with our partners across the Indo-Pacific, we’re building the tools and the trust needed to stay ahead of tomorrow’s threats. Collaboration like this reduces the threat of terrorists using drones to threaten our people.’
The urgency was underscored by recent casualties among Filipino nationals.
Since July, two Filipino seafarers were killed and 12 injured when drones struck merchant vessels transiting the northern Black Sea, the Department of Migrant Workers said. Nine ships carrying more than 140 Filipino crew members had been hit by drone attacks while docked or underway in Ukraine and Russia.
Last August 31, two Filipino seafarers were also killed after their crude oil tanker came under attack while attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz.
An August 27 technology showcase paired defense officials with U.S. firms pitching counter-UAS radars, radio-frequency jammers, and handheld CBRN detectors.
The event dovetailed with the Trump Administration’s push to keep American defense technology at the forefront of global security challenges, a State Department spokesperson said.
Industry analysts project the global electronic warfare market to swell to $37.3 billion by 2035, driven by demand for affordable counter-drone systems that can tilt the cost-exchange ratio back in favor of defenders.