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U.S. Decides to Significantly Augment Guam Base War Potential

U.S. Decides to Significantly Augment Guam Base War Potential

Posted May. 23, 2005 03:36,   

한국어

Stars and Stripes reported yesterday that the U.S. plans to deploy a new “Global Strike Task Force” at Anderson Air Force Base in Guam which could conduct both reconnaissance and strike missions in the Pacific.

According to the report, the U.S. will deploy three Global Hawks - reconnaissance aircrafts - and 12 in-flight tankers. It was also reported that it will strengthen its general war potential by rotationally stationing six B-2 bombers and 46 F-15Es there from mainland bases.

Among them, the bombers and fighters are planned to be rotationally deployed, but in-flight tankers will be permanently based at the Guam air base, and Global Hawks will be deployed starting around 2009. In addition, Stars and Stripes reported that an additional 2,400 troops will be transferred to the Guam base in order to support the new force deployment.

Although it takes more than 20 hours for U.S. forces to be deployed to potential conflict zones in the Pacific from the U.S. west coast, it only takes four to five hours from the Guam base.

It was reported that 12 F-15Es and four B-2s have already been dispatched from the U.S. west coast to the Guam base. Whenever there was a crisis on the Korean Peninsula, bombers from the U.S. mainland have reinforced the Guam base.

Meanwhile, another U.S. military authority said, “The Guam base reinforcement plan is not definite yet. It is a measure to research environmental effects which will be necessary in the future development process of the base.”



Sang-Ho Yun ysh1005@donga.com