The Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority (APECO) said it has signed an agreement with Anglicotech Philippines, Inc. to develop a P1.26-billion drone port within its Casiguran economic zone (ecozone).

The hub will be built in phases on a five-hectare site, APECO said in a statement issued on Thursday.

Under the memorandum of understanding, the two parties declared their intent to position the facility as a Center of Excellence for aerial and maritime drones.

The project's first phase covers the testing and evaluation of unmanned aerial vehicles and maritime drones, as well as the training of remote pilots and operators. The later phases cover manned and unmanned operations of aircraft and vessels; drones specialized for logistics, disaster response, maritime surveillance, and search-and-rescue; and maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services.

The facility will also house manufacturing, systems integration, and component production facilities, developed in partnership with original equipment manufacturers, APECO said.

The APECO airstrip is being positioned for dual-use civil and military operations, including combined operations of manned and unmanned aircraft.

"It sits on Casiguran Sound, whose sheltered waters, long a storm refuge for vessels, open onto the Pacific, letting maritime drones train in both protected and open-sea conditions," APECO added.

Anglicotech is tasked with preparing the project's business and site development plans, including technical, financing, and operational requirements and indicative timelines. Because the memorandum is a statement of intent, those plans and timelines are the concrete next milestones to watch, marking how the project moves from agreement toward phased development.

The project is expected to qualify for incentives under Tiers 2 and 3 of the Strategic Investment Priority Plan, which focuses on defense-related economic activities. It also aligns with Republic Act No. 12024, the Self-Reliant Defense Posture Revitalization Act, which seeks to boost local capacity for producing strategic equipment. Together, the incentive tiers and the law place the drone port within a wider policy effort to build domestic defense-industrial capability, linking private ecozone development with national goals for local production of strategic equipment.

Anglicotech is a Virginia-based defense logistics company. Since 2024, it has provided defense logistics services in Subic, including foreign military sales for the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the US Department of War.

— Beatriz Marie D. Cruz, BusinessWorld

Source: BusinessWorld