The news of a US target drone found floating in waters near Masbate made the social network sites busy with questions early this week. The drone, which was initially suspected as a bomb by local fishermen, was retrieved by ordnance experts of the Philippine navy. This sparked concerns of US servicemen engaging in combat operations in the country.

The US embassy later denied that the BQM-74E drone was launched within Philippine territory and said that it came from the guided-missile destroyer USS Chaffee in a naval combat exercise off Guam last September. They theorized that it may have been washed by ocean currents to the country.

These concerns arise from the limitation that US troops are supposedly legally barred from engaging in combat operations in the country as stated in our current visiting forces agreement (VFA) with them. Senator Loren Legarda, head of the Senate committee on foreign relations, called on the VFA commission to check if there is a breach of the rules governing American forces in the country.

The presence of the drone stirred debates on the VFA and the role of US servicemen in the country. Bayan Muna partylist representative and Makabayan coalition senatorial candidate Teddy Casino asked whether these drones show that the US is infringing upon our territorial sovereignty with impunity. Bagong Alyansang Makabayan’s Renato Reyes noted that this might not be the first drone presence in the country as there were previous reports that US drones were used in the attack against JI leader Dr. Abu and companions.

What are these drones and why are these becoming popular in the conduct of war in the past few decades?

I remember watching with awe the videos of the Gulf war in the 1990s, in which the US military would show on TV the precision of their “smart” bombs. These smart bombs were essentially missiles that were either guided by hand (through radio or wire) or computer-controlled bombs with pre-programmed targets embedded in their controls.

After a few more years, especially during the so-called war on terror, we got to hear about fixed wing drones which were just small airplanes that are being controlled from a ground station towards a target mission. As these small airplanes are as adept as their bigger cousins, they can deliver any payload (read: missiles and bombs) or be equipped with cameras or instrumentation to observe and gather intelligence. Both cargo can be present at the same time, due to technology such as guidance laser targeting systems which can direct missiles which the drone carries to its target.

The advances in remote control operations have made it possible to fly a drone plane from a padded chair using a joystick, much like a video game far away from the target site. Even amateur remote control (RC) devices such as small helicopters or fixed wing crafts are already capable of performing complex maneuvers remotely. The proliferation of designs for autonomous devices in the Internet such as quadcopters, hovercrafts and even cars show that these are simple technologies already available for all to use.

Based on reports, what crashed off in Masbate was a target drone used in military exercises for shooting practice. These are launched off a ship and used by pilots or other ships to test their defenses or offensive weapons. Usually non-active munition rounds are used in these exercises so as not to destroy these targets upon impact. These BQM-74 Chukar III aerial target drones look like realistic targets during gunnery exercises.

What can actually resolve our questions is the capability of these BQM-74 drones to have telemetry warheads that record the performance of the defenses put up against it. These telemetry information would record position, time and relative distance (indicating a miss or not) of the munition sent in defense against the drone. The Philippine government should demand this information from US authorities rather than just accept their statements without question.

We should be worried about just about this particular drone but more so with those allowed by the Philippine government. President Aquino admitted in previous interviews that the government allows drones to fly over the Philippines for surveillance and intelligence gathering missions. The danger is not limited to the drones themselves but is in the whole policy of allowing foreign troops to land, dock and fly over anywhere our country with impunity. We should stop being simple drones of any foreign power.

Dr. Tapang is the chair of AGHAM-Advocates of Science and Technology for People.