Satellite images reveal that the United States is building a new military facility in the Pacific Ocean and is preparing an alternative landing site for the Air Force in case Guam’s military base fails.
At Tinian International Airport in the Northern Mariana Islands, land reclamation activity was discovered based on satellite images obtained by. War zone June 15th.
Past satellite images of Planet Labs suggest that construction of the site began in May.
This seems to correspond to the Tinian detour airfield project, which started in February and costs about $ 162 million and is expected to be completed by 2025.
Brigadier General Jeremy Sloan, 36 Commanders at the groundbreaking ceremony for the first project in Februaryth Wing emphasized the importance of the Tinian detour airfield project to the US military.
“Improvements to its airfields, roads, ports and pipelines will provide the US military with important strategic, operational and exercise capabilities, and support humanitarian and disaster relief,” Sloan said. report.
In May 2019, the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands 40-year rental contract With the US Department of Defense, which was worth $ 21.9 million for the US Air Force detour airfield on Tinian.
this is, U.S. Air Force decision In 2016, we will designate Tinian International Airport as a backup site in case the Andersen Air Force Base in Guam becomes unavailable due to a natural disaster or an enemy attack.
The detour airfield project also includes the construction of fuel storage, maintenance facilities, and other infrastructure on Tenian Island to support cargo and tanker aircraft, and training exercises.
U.S. upgrades Guam’s military base to counter China
The Pentagon said in a World Defense Review last year that Washington would focus on upgrading and expanding military bases in Guam and Australia “to thwart potential Chinese military aggression and threats from North Korea.”
Mara Karlin, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Pentagon, said the Indo-Pacific region was marked as the focus of the U.S. military in the review and “is leading additional cooperation with allies and partners across the region.” “
“Australia is seeing the deployment of new rotary fighters and bombers, as well as increased ground force training and logistics cooperation,” said Carlin.
“Over the Indo-Pacific, we see various infrastructure improvements in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and Australia.”
This review was commissioned by the Biden administration in February 2021 and provided future details of the military’s global stance, but the reviews were largely categorized.
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Aldgra Fredly is a Malaysia-based freelance writer featuring the Epoch Times Asia Pacific News.