Located nearly 6,000 miles from the continental United States, Guam rests in the far western half of the Pacific Ocean. A US territory, the island hosts two American military facilities which house a fleet of B-1, B-2, and B-52 bombers, as well as fighter aircraft and munitions.
According to a new report by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), the island’s proximity to China means that it is vulnerable to a strike by Beijing’s latest missiles and bomber aircraft.
"Besides potentially depriving the United States of specific strike assets, such [hypothetical] attacks could disrupt its region-wide response effort – closing runways, reducing aerial and naval basing capacity, complicating the operating environment for US ships, and shutting down key logistics and repair infrastructure," Jordan Wilson, the report’s author, wrote.
In particular, the report points to China’s new DF-26 intermediate-range ballistic missile. Nicknamed the "Guam Killer" or "Guam Express," the DF-26 can be fitted with “two types of nuclear warhead and several types of conventional warhead which use different destructive mechanisms to attack specific targets,” the report reads.
It’s also unique in that it includes anti-ship ballistic missile capabilities which allow it to strike aircraft carriers from a range of up to nearly 2,500 miles.
The DF-21D “carrier killer” is another cause for concern. While it has a shorter range of 900 miles, is maneuverable warhead gives Beijing "the ability to hold at risk US Navy aircraft carriers operating east of Taiwan from sites on the Chinese mainland."
The Chinese military has a fleet of 36 H-6K bombers which also concern Wilson. With a range of over 2,000 miles, the aircraft can carry CJ-20 land-attack missiles (LACM), as well as supersonic YJ-12 anti-ship cruise missiles.
The report also mentions an as-yet-unidentified LACM currently under development by the Chinese military, which will have the ability to be launched from sea.
While the report expresses alarm over Guam’s vulnerability, it should come as no surprise. Given that the island is less than 2,000 miles from the Chinese mainland, it was inevitable that Guam would eventually be within range of Beijing’s advancing military technology. Being within range, however, is not the same as being targeted.
Furthermore, if US officials fear that Guam is vulnerable, this should only serve to highlight how Chinese officials feel about being within range of Pentagon bombers stationed on an island so close to its borders.
The report makes several recommendations for the US military. These include strengthening facilities on the island to deter a first strike, dispersing current deployments across a wider portion of the Pacific, and investing in more advanced missile defense capabilities.
Withdrawing forces from an island within China’s sphere of influence is not among the recommendations included in the report.
