U.S. Pacific Commander Demands Missile Defenses and Offenses for Guam

Sept. 18, 2020 (EIRNS)—According to Adm. Philip Davidson, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Guam needs more missile defenses in order to defend against “an increasingly aggressive China.”

“There are billions of dollars in defense capability on Guam,” he told the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, an industry lobbying group, yesterday. “There needs to be some investment in defending that.” China’s rapid development of the world’s largest rocket force is a concern, Davidson said during the forum. The force could strike U.S. forces on Guam and in the Far East with everything from ballistic missiles to maneuverable cruise and hypersonic missiles, warned the commander of 380,000 troops and civilians responsible for an area of operations stretching from the U.S. West Coast to India.

Davidson complained that the THAAD battery currently in Guam can only defend across 120 degrees and it’s currently aimed at North Korea, while what Guam needs is 360 degrees of protection. Only the Aegis Ashore system can provide that, he said.

Davidson is also demanding an offensive missile capability. “China has a profound advantage in ballistic missiles against the United States,” he said. “They also have a profound advantage in ground-launched cruise missiles. We have to get into that offensive force game as well.” Davidson was referring to the fact that until 2019, the U.S. was prohibited by the INF Treaty from building and deploying ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles in the range of 500 to 5,000 km by the INF Treaty, to which China was never a party.