The Philippine Coast Guard said four Chinese vessels were conducting illegal marine scientific research in its waters and threatened to deploy aircraft and boats to repel them.
"PCG has determined that they are conducting illegal marine scientific research without the legal authority or prior consent of the Philippine government, in clear violation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," according to a statement posted on Facebook by Coast Guard spokesman Rear Admiral Jay Tarriela. The Philippines will deploy aircraft and vessels to drive away the Chinese ships, he said.
The Chinese foreign ministry didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Two of the Chinese vessels were spotted west and northeast of Itbayat, Batanes, while one was northwest off Rizal, Palawan, within the vicinity of the disputed Jackson Atoll, and the other northwest of Scarborough Shoal, according to the statement. One of the ships is an advanced oceanographic survey vessel equipped for deep-sea research, seafloor mapping, geophysical exploration and support of submersibles, Tarriela said.
Another is the world's first intelligent drone mothership, built to deploy and control more than 50 unmanned aerial, surface and underwater vehicles simultaneously for comprehensive three-dimensional ocean surveys, according to the statement.
"We will not tolerate any illegal marine scientific research conducted without our government's consent," Coast Guard Chief Ronnie Gil Gavan said in a statement.
The Philippines and China have overlapping claims in the South China Sea, a strategic waterway believed to be rich in natural resources. The Southeast Asian nation has bolstered military ties with the US to help safeguard its claims in the disputed sea, leading to repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine ships.
The US Air Force agreed to buy an undisclosed number of interceptor drones from a company backed by President Donald Trump's sons, according to the firm, deepening the military's ties to defense contractors linked to the first family as the US war with Iran enters its third month.
The West Palm Beach-based company, Powerus, will sell the drones to the Pentagon following a demonstration at a facility in Arizona, according to Brett Velicovich, the company's co-founder and president.
The deal represents the first sale of this kind of weapon -- which can zip into the sky and blow up enemy drones -- by Powerus to the US military. The company declined to detail the terms of the deal or the size of the contract, but the military frequently enters into such deals as it weighs whether to adopt a new weapons system.
The arrangement fits with a broader US push to counter cheap Iranian attack drones with similarly inexpensive interceptors instead of far pricier missiles. The US Army has already sent 10,000 AI-enabled Merops interceptor drones developed in Ukraine to the Middle East.
At a contentious congressional hearing on Wednesday, lawmakers grilled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about the costs of the conflict, which the Pentagon estimates has reached $25 billion so far.
Velicovich said that the US has lagged its adversaries in development of low-cost drones. He said that interceptor drones of the kind Powerus sold to the Air Force can save taxpayer funds and adapt more quickly to threats.
"As a country, we're behind," Velicovich said in an interview. "We're finally taking the steps to fix that."
But the company's ties to Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump could invite scrutiny of the deal.
Rather than pursuing an initial public offering, Powerus is planning to merge with Aureus Greenway Holdings Inc., a golf-course operator backed by the Trumps that already has a Nasdaq listing, according to an announcement earlier this year.
Democrats in Congress have asked the Pentagon for more information about other defense contractors and technology firms with ties to the president's family. In addition to Powerus, Eric Trump backed a reverse-merger deal between Israeli drone maker Xtend and JFB Construction Holdings, a publicly listed construction company.
In response to criticism of their business partnerships in their father's second term, his sons have repeatedly said they are private businessmen.
Velicovich pushed back against the criticism, saying that Powerus impressed the Air Force on the merits of its technology.
"They're not going to pick a system because of who's on an investor list," he said. "They're picking because they need it now."
The Pentagon's focus on drone warfare thrust companies like Powerus and Xtend -- and other companies in the industry, including Neros Inc. and Halo Aeronautics -- into a greater national spotlight.
Even before the Iran war broke out in late February, the Pentagon was working on a "Drone Dominance" program to equip US forces with hundreds of thousands of the weapons, arguing that procurement processes had been too bureaucratic and slow-moving.