According to media reports on the island, a US congressman issued a warning that according to the results of the US military projection, if a conflict breaks out between Chinese mainland and the United States, the United States may lose 90 percent of its fighters at the beginning of the war. This does not mean that the Chinese Air Force has absolute superiority over the US Air Force, but that the US air bases around China will be ineffective due to China's missile attacks. The U.S. lawmakers warned that China has sufficient weaponry to suppress air and anti-missile systems on U.S. military bases. These attacks could have dire consequences, such as disabling the U.S. military's use of those warplanes, cutting off the U.S. military's logistical supply chain, and weakening the U.S. military's ability to intervene in the region.
The lawmakers pointed out that U.S. military bases around China lack the protection of reinforced institutions, and that in order to facilitate repairs and missions, these forces are often close together, and that an attack could result in huge losses. And although the US military bases are protected by air defense and anti-missile systems, these active defense systems are quite expensive, and whether they can withstand a saturation attack formed by a large number of missiles is also a question. Therefore, strengthening the defense requires the construction of more passive defense facilities, including underground bunkers and fortified bunkers, which can deploy critical assets. In addition, the lawmakers argued that there is a need to decentralize military assets, build more logistics facilities, and strengthen runway rehabilitation capabilities.
Zhang Yanting, a retired air force general of the front army, said that there are now too many tools that can attack airfields, such as ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles, all of which can be attacked, and the accuracy is getting higher and higher. In addition, aircraft like the B52, because they are too large, are basically located in the open air, which is easy to detect and be hit. Another expert on the island, Guo Zhengliang, said that the planes should have adequate hangar protection, and this is also a problem for the Taiwan military. What if the fighter plane cannot be lifted off because the runway is destroyed? And what if the plane is directly destroyed on the ground? Therefore, the US military only built bases around Chinese mainland, but did not build hangars.
There are hundreds of US military bases around China, but there are only a few really important air bases. Examples include Kadena Air Base in Okinawa and Andersen Air Base on the island. Kadena Air Base, which is the largest air base of the US military stationed in Japan, is quite close to the mainland, and has two runways more than 3,000 meters long. More than 200 military aircraft are deployed here and more than 20,000 U.S. troops are stationed there. Deployed fighters include F15, F22, E3 early warning aircraft and so on. Andersen Air Force Base, located north of Guam, is home to a variety of strategic bombers, including the Stratofortress B52 and the Supersonic Lancer B1b. It can be said that a bomber taking off from here can fly to any target in the Asia-Pacific region in half a day. In addition, the U.S. military also sees it as an important logistics base in the Indo-Pacific region. It can be said that these two air bases pose a great threat to the mainland.
In fact, in response to the threat posed by the U.S. military, the mainland has been strengthening its long-range strike capabilities for many years. The Rocket Force, in particular, is equipped with a variety of medium-range missile systems, including the Changjian-10 cruise missile, the Dongfeng-26 ballistic missile, and the Dongfeng-17 hypersonic missile. The existing missiles of the Rocket Force can cover most of the US military bases around China, and the Navy and Air Force also have the ability to deal with long-range strikes against these bases. It can be said that there are many types and quantities of Chinese missiles. The U.S. military is overwhelmed. And anti-aircraft missiles like the Patriot, as well as the standard series missiles of the US Navy, each can easily be several million, and it is still a question whether they can resist saturation attacks.
Therefore, in the eyes of American lawmakers, instead of using these active defense systems, deploy passive defenses that strengthen bases. More reinforced hangars were built, as well as underground bunkers. Even if active defense systems fail to intervene effectively, these facilities can protect U.S. military assets. However, just as a retired general of the Taiwan military said, those large military planes were exposed and could hardly resist attacks. And these large military aircraft may play a greater role in the conflict between major powers. Once it loses its effectiveness, it will significantly weaken the US military's ability to confront the PLA.