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"I have a mace, you have a heavenly spirit cover", a classic ancient expression, taken from Zhang Zhifu's satirical essay "Keshu" during the Northern Song Dynasty, vividly depicts the decline of the military power of the Northern Song court. This classic phrase seems to resonate when applied to the current situation of the US military stationed in the second island chain.
As of June 15, 2023, the US military media "War Zone" revealed that the US military is stepping up the construction of Tinian Air Force Base, and once completed, it will serve as a backup airport for Guam Anderson Air Force Base to provide logistical support, which has attracted much attention.
As one of the largest and most important military bases in the Western Pacific, Andersen Air Force Base in Guam shoulders important strategic responsibilities such as U.S. command, communications, logistics and anti-missile operations in the region. In particular, the bomber unit within the base undertakes the mission of strategic air strikes. In the era when China's naval and air forces were relatively weak, Anderson Base was the core of the US "island chain blockade strategy", which once put a lot of pressure on the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
However, with the rapid growth of the PLA's military power, especially the rapid development of naval and air forces, China has successfully broken through the limitations of the first island chain. The massive armament of a new generation of intermediate-range ballistic missiles allows the PLA to deter the second island chain at its doorstep. It has also put unprecedented pressure on the U.S. military.
For the US military stationed on the island chain, the PLA Rocket Force's various ballistic missiles are the biggest threat, especially the DF-26 missile exposed in 2015, which was nicknamed "Guam Express". Considering China's superiority in missile technology and quantity, the US military fears that once a conflict breaks out, the Guam base will lose its combat capability in just one hour, leaving the US military in the western Pacific in a difficult situation.
In response to this threat, the U.S. military has adopted a new tactic - distributed operations. The core idea of this tactic is to spread the functions originally concentrated in one base into multiple small bases, forming multiple small but fully functional bases to ensure that even if the Anderson base is destroyed, the other bases can still maintain operations. At the same time, increasing the number of bases also forces the PLA to launch more missiles to destroy these targets, while the US military can significantly deplete the PLA's missiles by adding false targets and anti-missile systems.
The construction of Tinian Air Base means that the U.S. military will have four large airfields in the Guam area, which the PLA will need to spend more missiles to destroy. If we add the cooperation of various false targets and anti-missile systems, the PLA's missile consumption will be multiplied, and the US military's goal of blocking the PLA will be easier to achieve.
However, this strategy adopted by the US military still faces great challenges. If the number of PLA missiles is sufficient, it is still unknown whether the US distributed combat strategy can continue to be effective.
This series of changes reflects the dynamic evolution of the balance of power between China and the United States in the Western Pacific. The first island chain cannot stop the development of the PLA, and the stability of the second island chain is becoming increasingly uncertain. The United States must recognize that, whether it wants it or not, this is an objective fact. In order to avoid attacks on the "Tianlingai", the best way is to fundamentally abandon the "zero-sum mentality of the Cold War" and not create problems on issues involving China's core interests. Otherwise, the U.S. distributed combat strategy may become meaningless in the face of a formidable threat from the PLA.
To sum up, the US military's military strategy in the western Pacific region is facing severe challenges. The rise of the People's Liberation Army has changed the regional balance of power, and the U.S. military needs to constantly adjust its tactics to the new situation. However, to truly maintain regional stability, cooperation and understanding between China and the United States are also needed to avoid the escalation of military confrontation. Otherwise, even if the "Tianling Cover" is hard, it will be difficult to resist the challenge of the PLA.
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