During a press briefing on Tuesday, Philippine Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad spoke about the investigation by local and foreign experts into the drones. One of the drones recovered off Calayan Island in August was of particular interest to forensic analysts as it was “the most intact” and contained a China Telecom SIM card, he said.
“The information gathered [by the drone] focuses on mathematic data. It also collects information on sound propagation underwater. All of this information have uses commercially for scientific research, academic purposes, but they have also dual use for military use.”
“Based on the forensics of the SIM card, the last contact that it had was in mainland China,” Trinidad said in reply to question from This Week in Asia. “That’s the only info we have.”
He said this third drone, like the first one recovered off Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte, in 2022, had acoustic vector sensors. “They were designed not to be retrieved,” he said.
