"How Should The Pentagon Defend Its Base At Guam..." Topic

…From Chinese Missiles?

"The U.S. Navy admiral in charge of Indo-Pacific Command is worried about Guam.

In the event of war, the Chinese military could target the U.S. island territory with cruise and ballistic missiles, Adm. Phil Davidson warned. And that could remove from the map the U.S. Air Force's main Pacific base for bombers and other heavy warplanes.

The solution, Davidson said, is to install the Aegis missile-defense system on Guam. Aegis Ashore could function as "the backbone of [a] homeland defense system" for the territory, Davidson told reporters on Wednesday…"

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Amicalement
Armand

Last night, late night radio, so it would be The John Batchelor Show wmal.com/john-batchelor , but late enough that I don't remember who he had on; they talked about Wake Island. Out of range of China, but it can hit Guam to support a retaking.

thanks for the link to John Batcherlor, as a bachelor myself, I'll check it out.

Wow, good call on Batchtelor, I'm now a fan of his podcast.

The nuclear umbrella has worked well for a very long time, so could be applied here as well.

Thresher,

Problem with nukes is that I don't think the US will use nukes to protect it lest it trigger a nuclear exchange against continental America.

Out of range of China, but it can hit Guam to support a retaking.

I don't think there's any current threat of China taking Guam as it's navy still lacks expeditionary capability. Even if it had a super carrier fleet that was bigger and more capable than the US it would still have to run a gauntlet in the open Pacific.

Chinese advantage is in the seas around mainland China:

a.) These seas are surrounded by large islands and thus represent a choke point that curtails US sorties within (but also prevents China getting out).
b.) These seas allow best concentration of Chinese power and can be supported by land based missile and aircraft systems,
c.) These seas are major trade routes. Chinese control of them shuts down a lot of the Asia Pacific.

No doubt Guam could be peppered with missiles and thus neutralised even if only for a short period of time. But I doubt the Chinese would ever be able to take it in the next few decades.

The Japanese were in many ways in a better position in terms of Pacific military action as they had direct and unrestricted access to the Pacific which the Chinese don't.

You could be right, but the nuclear threat has kept the peace for the last 75 years, so it shouldn't be off the table.

I can see them lobbing missiles at Guam, if things get hot, in order to reduce or eliminate it as a US base of operations, which is when we should lob some back – nuclear tipped, or not.