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Solar-powered Tritons are capable of autonomous navigation both on the surface and underwater and can support a diverse array of missions such as intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR), anti-submarine warfare, maritime strike, and mine countermeasures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The drones can be fitted with video cameras, thermal imaging and sonars, and may be deployed from shore, vessels, or aircraft. It can dive down to 100 meters and remain underwater for 10 days. It can also conduct surface patrols for up to 30 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ocean Aero\u2019s headquarters in Gulfport, Mississippi, the AUSVs are mobilized to protect subsea cables from sabotage, and the company has pitched the AUSVs for U.S. Navy mine-clearing in the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officials told Defense News the AUSVs were shown to the Navy during the recent iteration of Exercise Balikatan and are among a series of systems and platforms the U.S. had planned to transfer to the Philippines to boost military capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Tritons will also boost existing efforts to monitor subsea cables and gas pipelines, officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe ability to monitor and respond to maritime challenges \u2014 illegal fishing, gray zone activities, and threats to freedom of navigation \u2014 requires persistent, long-endurance awareness that no single ship or aircraft can provide alone. The Triton fills that gap by expanding the capabilities of the Philippine Navy into critical waterways,\u201d U.S. Embassy Charg\u00e9 d\u2019Affaires Bridgette Walker said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The drones are included in the Philippines-U.S. Security Sector Assistance Roadmap, a multi-year agreement to ease the acquisition, transfer, and sharing of equipment like radars and unmanned systems to strengthen maritime surveillance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last December, the U.S. Senate earmarked $2.5 billion for Philippine military modernization to be disbursed from 2026 to 2030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The transfer comes after the military revealed that China discreetly deployed a 6×6 meter floating platform equipped with an antenna at Scarborough Shoal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":120745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":45,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"9":{"categories":["unmanned","home"],"primary_category":"unmanned"}}},"categories":[45,160,11,16,36,27],"tags":[8592,8598],"coauthors":[3459],"class_list":["post-72882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific","category-daily-news-roundup","category-global","category-naval","category-newsletters","category-unmanned","tag-china","tag-philippines"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"MNHEUV4G3VCR5OYUBMCRXTEOP4","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/asia-pacific\/2026\/06\/25\/philippines-deploys-us-made-triton-naval-drones-in-its-western-waters-to-scout-for-intruders\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n