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- The Indo-Pacific command chief has pushed lawmakers to beef up Guam’s defenses against threats from China.
- He said Aegis Ashore would better protect strategic territory from missiles.
- “Guam is a target today,” he said, noting that Guam will face greater threats in the future.
- Visit Insider’s Business section for more stories.
The main U.S. Indo-Pacific commander on Tuesday pressured lawmakers to support the commissioning of additional air and missile defense capabilities for Guam given China’s growing ability to threaten this important territory.
“Guam is a target today,” Philip Davidson, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “It must be defended and it must be prepared for the threats that will come in the future.”
“Guam is not just a place where we think we can fight, as we have been doing for many decades,” he said, telling the Senate committee that “we are going to have to fight for this.”
The admiral, who has made the defense of Guam a top priority, said this strategic US territory would benefit from Aegis Ashore. He argued that the terminal’s high-altitude area defense system set up to defend Guam is unable “to respond to the current trajectory of threats from China.”
Davidson drew attention to a Chinese propaganda video that showed an H-6 bomber attack on Andersen Air Force Base in Guam as evidence of China’s strategic thinking. The video was mocked for shamelessly extracting footage from Hollywood movies like “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”.
The Pentagon’s most recent report on China’s military might noted that the flights of Chinese H-6K bombers in the western Pacific Ocean demonstrate China’s ability to reach Guam with aerial launchers. [land-attack cruise missiles]”while the DF-26 mid-range missile dubbed the” Guam Express “is” capable of conducting precision conventional or nuclear strikes against ground targets, which could include US bases on Guam. “
Davidson said Guam would do better to prepare to defend against these threats with Aegis Ashore, a system-based missile defense system that the US Navy has installed on a number of its guided missile destroyers and cruisers.
Davidson said on Tuesday that America must “demonstrate that any ambition China might have and any threat it might put forward against Guam will come at a cost.”
“It would really be by collecting not only this defensive capability, which I think is so critical because it prevents cheap shooting,” but also other capabilities ”to let China know that the cost of what ‘she is trying to do is too high and give them doubt about their success,’ he said.
The admiral told lawmakers that taking Aegis down on Guam would show China that “he” cannot knock Guam out with an easy blow and prevent us from fighting to present a fait accompli “in a regional crisis, such as a conflict for Taiwan.
Davidson Aegis Ashore’s proposal is part of the larger Pacific Defense Initiative that is expected to require around $ 4.6 billion in defense funds in fiscal year 2022 and $ 27 billion over the next five years. , with the Pentagon making competition with China a priority.
Defense Ministry officials have repeatedly identified China as the “rhythm threat,” and the Biden administration has named China as America’s toughest competitor.
In this competition, Guam is a vital territorial holding. Not only is it home to more than 170,000 US citizens and servicemen, but it also provides access to a deep-water port, fuel and ammunition storage, and an airfield for the projection of US power. A squadron of submarines and a ship that maintains them are based there.
“America’s Day begins in Guam, and it is not only a place we must fight against, but also a place we must fight for, given the threats we face in the short term and in a foreseeable future, ”Davidson told lawmakers Tuesday.
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