Posted on 06/25/2022 3:40:42 PM PDT by blam
Satellite imagery revealed that the United States is constructing a new military facility in the Pacific, possibly preparing an alternative landing site for its airforce should the military bases on Guam become inoperable.
Land-clearing activity has been spotted at Tinian International Airport in the Northern Mariana Islands, based on satellite images obtained by The War Zone on June 15.
An annotated satellite image showing the full scope of planned construction as part of the Tinian Divert Airfield project. USAF
Past satellite imagery from the Planet Lab suggests that construction work at the site started in May.
This appears to correspond to the Tinian divert airfield projects that commenced in February, which will cost about $162 million and are expected to complete by 2025.
At the first project’s ground-breaking ceremony in February, brigadier-general Jeremy Sloane, commander of the 36th Wing, emphasized the importance of the Tinian divert airfield projects for the U.S. forces.
“Its airfield, roadway, port, and pipeline improvements will provide vital strategic, operational, and exercise capabilities for the U.S. forces and support humanitarian assistance and disaster relief,” Sloane said, DVIDS reported.
In May 2019, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands government signed a 40-year lease agreement with the U.S. Defense Department, which was worth $21.9 million for the U.S. Air Force’s divert airfield on Tinian.
This was consistent with the U.S. Air Force’s decision in 2016 to designate Tinian International Airport as a backup site if the Andersen Air Force Base in Guam becomes unavailable due to a natural disaster or enemy attack.
The divert airfield project would also include the construction of fuel storage, maintenance facility, and other infrastructure on Tinian to support cargo and tanker aircraft, and training exercises.
US Upgrading Military Bases in Guam to Counter China
The Pentagon said in its global defense review last year that Washington will be focusing on the upgrade and expansion of military bases in Guam and Australia “to deter potential Chinese military aggression and threats from North Korea.”
Mara Karlin, deputy assistant secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Defense, said the Indo–Pacific region was marked as the focal point for the U.S. military in the review, in which it “directs additional cooperation with allies and partners across the region.”
“In Australia, you’ll see new rotational fighter and bomber aircraft deployments, you’ll see ground forces training and increased logistics cooperation,” Karlin said.
“More broadly across the Indo–Pacific, you’ll see a range of infrastructure improvements in Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Australia.”
The review was commissioned by the Biden administration in February 2021, and while it provided some details of the future of the military’s global posture, the review was largely classified.
Uh oh. I hope no blue-spotted titwidgets are inconvenienced.
“...should the military bases on Guam become inoperable”
Because Guam capsizes due to overpopulation?
Tinian? Now there’s a blast from the past. :)
(Because Guam capsizes due to overpopulation?)
You are a great man of science!
8,000 Navy personnel weigh more than a duck 🦆🦆🦆!!
BOOM!
ISWYDT
It is a good thing to build up in the Pacific, but if the ChiComs go to the trouble of taking out Guam the would certainly simultaneously attempt to take out Tinian which is only a stones throw away.
They may be building a new military airfield but the one in the image is tagged on Google Earth as Tinian International Airport, on the site of an old WWII era airfield.
Interesting... this territory practices discrimination in elections, where the Democrats maintain an advantage by denying voting rights to any residents who do not meet ethnicity rules. They also deny residents gun rights, etc.
Both float therefor they weigh the same.
“coming back from the island of Tinian, she had just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb.”
Im not surprised being the Chinese and its pretty bad.
Its even rarely the Belt & Road Initiave
in Africa is admitted in the msm .
The State Dept has been a weak sister
going back to Hil- C ****
China is very greedy imho and
seeks for world domination and cntrol.
These islands are just the norm for
them in their rithlessness.
...and here we have in the States
the embedment of these creeps and
psycho Chinese in all levels of our
govt and all its peripherals including
NGO’s. The current prez is already
in bed with them and sometimes I
believe these goons are doing their
level best in the culture wars here.
I think they are building there because of how wobbly and tilty Guam gets as people move around on it.
Strategic location then, strategic now.
.
If the USAF is going to spend taxpayer $ on contingency facilities, why not throw some $ at Wake Island and get some more activity going there.
You are also a great man of science!!
Is Midway still there or did it tip over?
5.56mm
Makes you wonder who thot it was ever a good idea to NOT keep using Tinian? Is this Bidum build back bomber money?
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