CHINA WATCHU.S. Fortifying Indo-Pacific Air Bases Against Potential Attacks from China
The United States has been ramping up its Indo-Pacific region air bases to ensure they are protected against attack, amid concerns over vulnerabilities they face in countries such as Japan, the Philippines and South Korea against potential Chinese strikes.
The United States has been ramping up its Indo-Pacific region air bases to ensure they are protected against attack, a spokesperson for the U.S. Pacific Air Forces told VOA this week, amid concerns over vulnerabilities they face in countries such as Japan, the Philippines and South Korea against potential Chinese strikes.
“While we are continually improving our theater posture, warfighting advantage and integration with allied and partners, Pacific Air Forces stands ready every day to respond to anything that poses a threat to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the spokesperson said.
“We continue to invest in infrastructure and technology to enhance the resilience and survivability of our bases and facilities across the theater, including hardening airfields and buildings while investing in advanced security systems to protect our personnel and assets,” the spokesperson told VOA on Tuesday.
The Air Force was authorized with “$916.6 million to improve logistics, maintenance capabilities and prepositioning of equipment, munitions, fuel and material in the Indo-Pacific” through the fiscal 2024 Pacific Deterrence Initiative, the spokesperson added. The Pacific Deterrence Initiative is a set of defense priorities set up in 2021 by Congress to support U.S. goals in the Indo-Pacific, primarily to counter China.
The comments were made in response to a report last week by the Hudson Institute claiming that U.S. aircraft at allied Indo-Pacific country bases could suffer major losses from Chinese attacks unless those bases are fortified.
If left unfortified, the U.S. air power in the region would be significantly reduced compared to China’s, according to the report, Concrete Sky: Air Based Hardening in the Western Pacific.
One of the reasons, according to the report, is that the U.S. is lagging behind China in the number of shelters that could hide and protect the aircraft from attacks.
China more than doubled the number of aircraft shelters since the early 2010s, having more than 3,000, according to the report. Across 134 Chinese air bases located within 1,000 nautical miles of the Taiwan Strait, China has more than 650 hardened aircraft shelters and nearly 2,000 nonhardened individual aircraft shelters.
A hardened shelter is a reinforced structure made of steel, concrete, and other materials to protect military aircraft from enemy strikes.
In comparison, the U.S. has added two hardened shelters and 41 nonhardened ones within 1,000 nautical miles of the Taiwan Strait and outside South Korea since the 2010s, the report said.