FOCUS: U.S. restoring Pacific island wartime airfield for deterrence
By Maricar Cinco,
KYODO NEWS
- Aug 05, 2025 - 14:39
TINIAN - The United States is restoring a World War II-era airfield on Tinian, a tiny, strategically important Pacific island in its territory in the Northern Mariana Islands used as a launching point for U.S. nuclear strikes on Japan 80 years ago, as it ramps up deterrence against China.
Once completed, North Field airfield will give the U.S. military's expeditionary forces more flexibility to maneuver across the Pacific amid concerns over growing Chinese influence in the region, according to a ranking U.S. Navy official.
"We can move forces there, train there, practice and work with allies," U.S. Rear Adm. Gregory Huffman, then Commander of the Joint Task Force -- Micronesia, said of the project's impact in a Kyodo News interview in April.
"That builds up that readiness, that operational efficiency, and increases the lethality," he said.
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