Philippines looks to space for bird’s-eye view of South China Sea threats

The Philippines is preparing to create a military space centre by 2028, a move that could help Manila strengthen surveillance, communications and command across its archipelago and in contested areas of the South China Sea.

But analysts said the ambition would be constrained by the technical, financial and manpower hurdles of turning space assets into military capability.

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief General Romeo Brawner Jnr said on Tuesday the initiative – which would enhance communications, command and control, missile systems and drone operations – would lay the groundwork for a future space command.

The proposal, he said, was presented to President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr during their midyear command conference and followed the president’s directive last December for the military to develop its own satellite capability.

“It will be a centre. We need to start small first, and later on, we will expand into a space command or space force,” Brawner told reporters, noting the plan called for the use of military satellites.

A space command would provide the military with a sovereign platform for persistent surveillance not only of the South China Sea but across the entire Philippine archipelago, said Rommel Jude Ong, a retired Philippine Navy rear admiral who is now a professor of praxis at the Ateneo School of Government.