Airfields are few and far between across the vast reaches of the western Pacific Ocean. Every strip of concrete capable of launching and landing military aircraft is precious. And that’s why, in October, the US Army practiced seizing a Pacific airfield.
During, say, a war with China over Taiwan, the Army might try to capture Chinese airfields on reclaimed reefs in the China Seas and turn them over to the US Air Force or, at the very least, deny them to Chinese forces. But the Army clearly expects the Chinese to fight for every square foot of concrete – and to swiftly counterattack in an attempt to retake any runways they lose.
The war game in Palau – a tiny island country 1,400 miles southeast of Taiwan – began with five USAF Boeing C-17 airlifters and one Australian air force C-17 flying to Palau’s Roman Tmetuchl International Airport apparently from Guam, 800 miles to the east. Inside some of the four-engine C-17s: US Army Airborne Rangers from the elite 75th Ranger Regiment.
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Bugs Marlowe