7 days ago
US Air Force hosts biggest ever exercise in Pacific territory Guam, with experts saying China the focus
The US Air Force says it is preparing to "fight and win" the "battle of tomorrow" as the US Pacific territory of Guam plays host to the biggest combat exercise the region has ever seen.
In a move experts say is undoubtedly "directed at China", the US Air Force's Resolute Force Pacific (REFORPAC) exercise sees more than 400 aircraft and 12,000 personnel from the US and allies such as Australia, converge on the small US island territory, about 3,000 kilometres north of Darwin.
Coinciding with the Talisman Sabre exercises in Australia, the US Air Force says REFORPAC is designed to test how quickly the US and its allies can "mobilise air power across vast distances, under pressure, in a contested environment".
On the ground at Guam's Andersen Air Force Base, hundreds of jet fighters and support aircraft have been flying in and out over the past two weeks, conducting various drills.
Speaking at the base, Colonel Charles Dan Cooley told the ABC it was an exercise that had never been done "on this scope and scale".
"That exercise, for us, is just an opportunity to practice."
However, some, including the US Air Force's own social media accounts, suggest there is a far more targeted motive.
This week, the US Air Force promoted a social media post that said the exercise proved how it would "fight and win in tomorrow's battlespace (sic)".
Although the enemy or conflict was not specified, experts say it is directed at one country.
"There's been very little disguising the fact that this exercise is directed at China," Leland Bettis, the director of Guam-based think tank Pacific Centre for Island Security, told the ABC.
The exercises in the Pacific come on the back of US Defense Undersecretary Elbridge Colby's comments last week, calling on allies, such as Australia, to make clear if they would commit troops to a conflict with China over Taiwan.
Guam has been identified by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as the country's most important strategic base in the region.
Mr Bettis said REFORPAC reflected the reality that Guam could be vulnerable in a conflict, so the US was practising how to quickly disperse its forces.
"There are significant aviation assets in [nearby US territories] Tinian and in Saipan," he said.
"I think what US contingency planners anticipate in the event involving conflict with an adversary in the region is that they would use a distributed and dispersed plan, which would be able to move assets around, anticipating that some assets are not going to be available, and some bases are not going to be available.
"So the fact that you have significant assets in Saipan and in Tinian also signalled that they expect that Guam assets will not be available in conflict."
Back on the ground at the Andersen Air Force Base, this was backed up by Colonel Matt Johnston, commander from the Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska, who is in Guam for exercises.
"Our ability to take off in our fighters, which don't carry a lot of gas, go get fuel, accomplish our objectives, probably go back and get some more fuel so that we can come back and land.
"So, we're learning a lot of lessons through that."
The military build-up comes as the Trump administration continues to realign the US's priorities in the Pacific region, most notably through its multi-billion-dollar cuts to USAID.
Mr Bettis said the absence of "soft power", such as USAID-led diplomacy in the region, would pave the way for development supporting a military purpose, instead of direct assistance to nations.
"The face of America in our part of the world wears a uniform, and I think you're going to probably see that more and more throughout the region."
