Report warns of US aircraft being subjected to intense Chinese bombing
Report warns of US aircraft being subjected to intense Chinese bombing
1-21-2025
Information/Translation..
A report by the American Hudson Institute warned, on Tuesday, that the lack of fortified aircraft shelters at American bases in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond may constitute a flaw in the conflict against China, which seeks to neutralize American air power.
The report, translated by Al-Maalomah Agency, stated that “while Beijing has doubled the total number of its hardened and unhardened shelters over the past decade, allowing it to “house and hide” most of its fighter aircraft, the United States has done little to increase the number of its shelters, leaving them exposed to missiles.”
“Beijing has built shelters on the understanding that its aircraft would be attacked on the ground in the event of a conflict, yet the United States has been somewhat indifferent to strengthening bases in locations such as Guam, Japan and the Philippines despite China’s massive investment in missiles and attack aircraft,” he added.
“In the early days of any conflict, it is a given that China would unleash massive firepower against U.S. air bases, seeking to neutralize U.S. air power on the ground,” he continued, noting that “an alternative explanation for the air campaign in Iraq could be that despite near-total air superiority, the use of more than 2,780 fixed-wing aircraft, the failure of Iraqi strikes against allied airfields, and five weeks of allied strikes against Iraqi targets, the United States and its allies destroyed only 63 percent of Iraq’s hardened air shelters.”
“An adversary with superior air defenses that can compete with U.S. and Chinese air force operations will be better able to sustain operations,” the report noted. “The United States has been somewhat outlier in its position on fortifying air bases: in addition to China, Israel, Russia, and Ukraine have invested heavily in fortifying air bases.”
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