The United States is facing an imbalance in the military balance in the western Pacific region, the PLA is growing its combat system, the garrison on the first island chain is already very difficult, and the security of the second island chain has become precarious. As a key hub in the second island chain, the strategic significance of the ** region to the US military cannot be ignored. Although the U.S. military has been strengthening its defense system, it is still at risk of being destroyed after the start of the war.
In response to this situation, it is particularly important for the U.S. military to find a backup base. According to a report by the United States, the U.S. military is stepping up the construction of an airfield on Palau's Angar Island and installing an over-the-horizon early warning radar to make it a backup base. The move is part of the U.S. military's distributed operations strategy, which aims to decentralize deployments and reduce the effectiveness of the PLA's long-range strikes.
The choice of Angar Island has its own unique advantages. Palau has no diplomatic relations with Chinese mainland and has close relations with the United States and Japan, which can provide a stable "mass base" for the US military. In addition, Angar Island was a field airfield for the U.S. military as early as World War II, and some of the facilities are still in use today. This move can not only share the load of **, but also strengthen the southern posture of the US military in the blockade line of the island chain.
In recent years, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has rapidly increased its long-range strike capability and has become the best against the US military.
1. The strike capability of key targets in the island chain. The U.S. military realizes that the biggest weakness is the lack of sufficient bases, especially the several bases on which the naval and air forces in the second island chain are almost completely dependent. Therefore, the US military has decided to increase the number of bases and avoid being wiped out by the PLA by dispersing its combat forces and technical equipment. This tactic, known as "flexible deployment," focuses on building airfields on remote islands and reefs in the first island chain, in conjunction with a rapid logistics support system, to gain more forward bases.
Building its own anti-stealth detection system is a key measure for the US military to deal with the threat of PLA stealth weapons. The U.S. military is setting up a tactical mobile over-the-horizon radar (TACMOR) in Palau to detect over long distances using atmospheric ionospheric refraction. This allows the TACMOR radar to have the ability to provide long-range early warning, which helps to improve the defense capability of the **. In addition, the skywave over-the-horizon radar can also be used as an anti-stealth radar to effectively deal with the PLA's stealth strategic bombers and stealth cruise missiles.
The Palau region forms a triangle with **, Tiani Island and other places, forming a relatively close defense system. In addition, Palau has not yet established diplomatic relations with China and has close ties with the United States and Japan, which makes Angar an ideal backup base. Angar Island already has a field airfield built during World War II, which can still be used after renovation. The U.S. military has conducted take-off and landing tests on Angar Island, proving that it has a certain ability to use it. In the future, the U.S. military also plans to further expand the airport to support the take-off and landing of major combat aircraft such as fighters, strategic bombers, large transport aircraft, air tankers, and AWACS aircraft to achieve better resilient combat deployment.
In addition to building the airport, the U.S. military plans to set up a tactical mobile over-the-horizon radar (TACMOR) in the Palau Islands to monitor movements in the South China Sea and the PLA's southern theater. Using the principle of skywave over-the-horizon detection, the TACMOR radar can detect targets in the South China Sea and the southern theater of operations of the People's Liberation Army from the Palau Islands, using the principle of skywave over-the-horizon detection. This will help to improve the defense capability of the People's Liberation Army, which will most likely become the target of long-range fire strikes by the PLA.
Although the Palau archipelago is strategically located, its economy and technology are relatively backward, and its population size is limited, so it cannot provide a relatively complete logistical support capacity. In addition, the Palau Islands are also within the range of the PLA's long-range firepower and are vulnerable to PLA attacks in wartime. As a result, the U.S. military uses Palau as an emergency deployment base rather than a permanent garrison. Nevertheless, from the perspective of taking precautions, we still need to pay sufficient attention to the US military's scattered emergency deployment bases and strengthen our own long-range strike capabilities to effectively weaken the US military's operational and combat capabilities. At the same time, we also need to develop and improve space-based integrated information systems to better monitor the movements and strategic intentions of the US military.