The US Air Force is planning to spend $400 million to upgrade an airfield on the island of Yap, which is part of the Federated States of Micronesia, Air & Space Forces Magazine has reported.
The US military is working to establish dozens of new airstrips and other types of footholds on small islands across the Asia Pacific, a concept the Air Force has dubbed Agile Combat Employment. In some cases, the US is clearing away jungle that has overgrown World War II-era runways, including on an airfield in the Northern Mariana Islands, from where US aircraft dropped the atomic bombs on Japan.
The US Air Force laid out its plan to expand an airfield on Yap in its budget request for the 2025 fiscal year. The Air Force said an extended runway “is required to enable increased capacity of the runway by allowing larger aircraft to land and take-off quickly and safely. This increased capacity supports provisions for a command-and-control capable infrastructure for multi-service forces in the rapid establishment of operational capabilities in various locations.”
If the project is approved, construction will begin in 2025. The Air Force is asking for $96 million for the first year, but the project would ultimately cost $400 million. Yap is about 1,500 miles southeast of China and is only 46 square miles, making it about two-thirds the size of Washington DC.
US military leaders have been explicit that the purpose of the expanding footprint in the region is to prepare for a fight with China by giving the Chinese military more targets it will need to hit.
“Every single additional airfield that I can operate from is another in a contingency or crisis, or a conflict is another airfield that China has to put into their targeting folders and, and then allocate resources toward them, which dilutes their ability to shut us completely down,” Pacific Air Forces Commander Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach said last year.
$400 million for a longer airfield on a tiny island — 46 miles in total. Huh. The slush is slushing bigger and bigger. A regular tsunami.
It’s not like you can pop by and see how they are spending the money.
China doesn’t want war with us, but our cretinous hegemonic supremacists will keep pushing the envelope everywhere they can until contriving a “threat’ giving them their final war. The unkown is whether they take the rest of humanity with them.
If stupid Humanity lets them do this, it’s on Humanity.
There’s Humanity and then there’s Power. Technically they’re not mutually exclusive but in a Venn Diagram of the two Humanity would be the square and Power the bubble inside the square 🙂
Humanity’s never succeeded in preventing Power from starting a war; but though it took 10 years Humanity did end the Vietnam War. Then Power changed the game. Now that the world’s power balance has changed we’ll see if it’s a gain for Humanity, it can hardly be worse than Genocide.
It’s always a miracle when the US decides to exit an endless war even after killing millions of people for no good reason whatsoever. Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan…
Not a miracle, NA, a miracle implies the arising of a moral conscience. Two things one can be sure of when the blob exits a military action; (1) it’s never the result of morality and (2) it’s never done for the official reason – well three things, (3) whatever the concealed reason(s) it’s expected to deliver some current or future benefit to them 🙂
I know, China doesn’t want war with us.
And, they have never don’t such a horrendous thing in the Pacific.
Oh dear god, I’m fairly certain you’re the latter ….
He who learns but does not think is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger. -Confucius
“He who learns but does not think is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger. “
-Dumbass Putin-
🤣
400 billion here, 99 billion there, and now you understand why we have a trillion dollar of spending in excess of revenue every hundred days. It’s going to be mighty hard to maintain that base once the US can no longer borrow the kind of money they are accustomed to spending.
“Every single additional airfield that I can operate from is another in a contingency or crisis, or a conflict is another airfield that China has to put into their targeting folders and, and then allocate resources toward them, which dilutes their ability to shut us completely down,” Pacific Air Forces Commander Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach said last year.
Geez, so it would be a colossal waste of money if there is no war. Gives you a warm fuzzy feeling, doesn’t it?
I was wondering why I was feeling warm and fuzzy, thank you, Wars!
Pentagon just loves to waste US taxpayer Money…! Colossal $400 million spending to just save 200 miles distance from the Guam to Taiwan…!
If this were not a Bizarro world, This Pacific Air Forces Commander Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach would be embarrassed he actually said that last paragraph. I wonder if he plans to move there with his family to wait for the war to start?
How dare those American warmongering bastards.
$400 million to expand an airfield in the Pacific?
It’s never been done before, what’s next, annexing neighboring territorial and international waters?
I hope China protests this and let them know this is illegal.
Can you imagine if China did something like this in the South China Sea?