Scatter and Survive: Inside a U.S. Military Shift to Deny China ‘Big, Juicy’ Targets
Story by Niharika Mandhana, Mike Cherney, Camille Bressange • 4h
The remote Pacific airfield used to launch the atomic bombings of Japan during World War II is being revived with a different foe in mind: China.
Runways emerging from the encroaching jungles on the tiny island of Tinian, a U.S. territory, are part of a sweeping shift in how America’s military would respond to a possible conflict in Asia.
Instead of relying on a few large air bases, the U.S. would disperse its warplanes to make them less vulnerable to China’s enormous arsenal of missiles. That means identifying, upgrading and reviving airstrips across the Indo-Pacific that could be pressed into service.
The U.S. Air Force calls this effort Agile Combat Employment, or ACE, and the rebuilding on Tinian is a key piece of that.
Reclaiming a World War II-era airfield largely obscured by thick, emerald-green jungle on a tiny Pacific island is no simple task.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/scatter-and-survive-inside-a-u-s-military-shift-to-deny-china-big-juicy-targets/ar-AA1szN9K?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=HCTS&cvid=ccd5b8b7ed5849919bcd64dd4b5f8e04&ei=7
