China's Missile Threat Shifts Pentagon's Approach.

"LAL-LO, Philippines -- At this tiny commercial airport near the northern tip of the Philippines, tents for U.S. military equipment and troops dotted the tarmac alongside U.S. Army helicopters during recent training exercises.

It is one of a growing number of outposts for American forces in the Asia-Pacific region designed to meet the rising military challenge from China.

It is also part of a shift away from a heavy reliance on big military bases that have been the linchpin of the American presence in Asia for decades. Such bases are increasingly vulnerable as Beijing's missile arsenal grows larger and more technologically advanced.

By dispersing weaponry, troops and command posts among smaller outposts such as Lal-Lo, the U.S. hopes to make it harder for Beijing to strike a decisive blow by crippling any single military facility.

"The threat to fixed bases from the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force, given its extraordinary growth in capabilities in the last few years, is front and center," said Thomas Shugart, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank.

China's growing military capabilities and the U.S. military presence in Asia are set to be among the themes at this weekend's meeting of defense ministers in Singapore known as the Shangri-La Dialogue. China rebuffed a U.S. request for a meeting at the event between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu.

China now has more than 1,300 ballistic missiles that could be used against targets in the Asia-Pacific region, including over 250 that could reach as far as major U.S. military bases in Guam, around 3,000 miles from the Chinese mainland, according to Pentagon estimates.

China's development of hypersonic missiles, which are harder for missile-defense systems to hit because they don't follow predictable flight paths, has also focused attention on the vulnerability of U.S. bases in Asia.

Recent tabletop simulations conducted by American security analysts, including of a hypothetical war over Taiwan, generally assumed Beijing would try to destroy major American installations early in the conflict.

That potentially includes Kadena Air Base, the largest American air base in the region on the Japanese island of Okinawa, with more than $4 billion in jet fighters and other equipment.

Alarmed by this possibility, Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) introduced a bill into Congress in May calling for the U.S. military to build stronger shelters for its aircraft in Asia.

Air Force leaders say new shelters alone won't solve the problem. They are giving priority to a hub-and-spoke model that would move many aircraft away from large bases to an array of smaller facilities, especially if a conflict is looming.

As part of that transition, the Air Force is creating small teams of personnel that can quickly convert locations such as airstrips on remote islands into temporary bases for military aircraft when needed. So-called Air Mobility Teams would be dropped into these locations and tasked with rapidly preparing runways and setting up infrastructure like refueling points.

"It's about complicating their decision matrix. So yes, you might be able to hit this location, but we have another one over here from which we can project combat power," said Maj. Gen. John M. Klein, commander of the Air Force Expeditionary Center, under which the Air Mobility Teams are being created.

A larger number of small bases around the region could also allow the U.S. military to deploy assets closer to where they might be needed, shortening response times in a strategy known as prepositioning.

This may help with other missions such as disaster response. The Lal-Lo airfield is located in a region of the Philippines often hit by typhoons.

Some military strategists warn that moves to disperse U.S. military forces could make them more vulnerable if individual sites have weaker defenses and can be destroyed by a small number of missiles.

Operating from more countries can have other complications, such as coordination with host governments. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has said that sites the U.S. military has access to in his country can't be used for offensive military action.

Logistical and operational challenges may also increase with a more dispersed military, including communications with control centers.

U.S. military officials say the risks of losses as a result of concentrating their forces in just a few locations are now too great to not have other options.

Major U.S. military facilities in the Asia-Pacific region are protected by missile-defense systems such as Patriot batteries, which can defend against ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones, and the ship-based Aegis system, which targets ballistic missiles in midflight.

U.S. military officials say the task of defending bases is more challenging than ever because of China's advancing capabilities, as well as those of North Korea.

A central goal for China's military under leader Xi Jinping has been to make it perilous for the U.S. or any other rival military to operate around China's periphery, Chinese military scholars said." [1]

According to this strategy our the most stinky asshole country in the world, Lithuania, (all those stinky outdoor restrooms...) could expect some small American teams. First military application of strong odor just for hiding airplanes. Very interesting...

1.  World News: China's Missile Threat Shifts Pentagon's Approach. Gale, Alastair. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 02 June 2023: A.16.