Important Takeaways:

• Key U.S. air bases in Japan and elsewhere in the region until recently were safe havens from enemy attack and provided rapid power projection with airstrikes for more than three decades, the report by the Stimson Center said.
• “That sanctuary age has now ended, and nowhere more than in the Indo-Pacific,” the report warns. “China has invested heavily in building a large and sophisticated arsenal of ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles that can reach U.S. bases across the region.”
• Chinese military strategists view American air power as weakest in forward air bases and, in particular, they understand that runways cratered from missile strikes would prevent warplanes and support aircraft from taking off and landing during critical time periods in a conflict. The report concludes that People’s Liberation Army (PLA) precision missile strikes on runways and taxiways in the region would allow the Chinese military to gain air superiority, a key advantage in war.
• The Air Force has adopted a new operating strategy called agile combat employment the seeks to disperse forces from main operating bases “for survival.”
• “We then quickly reaggregate our forces for lethality, in the time and place of our choosing, and deliver effects,” Gen. Schneider said. Adm. Sam Paparo, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, has said delaying a rapid Chinese attack on Taiwan is a key priority.
• He has adopted what is called a “hellscape” strategy of using thousands of uncrewed weapons — both aerial and maritime — to delay Chinese forces until reinforcements arrive.
• “Above all, American political and military leaders — as well as the American public — should be under no illusions: there will be no refuge or rest from the long reach of Chinese missiles for U.S. air bases in a war,” the report said.

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