Guam US needs Guam Aegis system to defend against China's air, sea 360 degree threats - Admiral
Washington/Sputnik: The United States needs a defense system on Guam with 360 degree capability to defend against China's capability to fly aircraft and sail ships around the Mariana Islands with the ability to fire missiles from any direction against US targets, Indo-Pacific Command head Adm. Philip Davidson said.
"[In recent missions] what the Chinese were showing was circumnavigations of Guam and the Marianas by ships and bombers offering a 360 degree threat by cruise missiles," Davidson told an American Enterprise Institute (AEI) podcast on Thursday. "Air and missile defense of Guam is my number one priority."
Speaking from Indo-Pacific Command headquarters in Hawaii, Davidson said he wanted a system like Aegis to conduct persistent 360 degree integrated air and missile defense from the so-called Second Island Chain nations and territories.
"We are not going to let Guam go without a fight. It is critically important. We are going to have to be able to fight for it. Missile defense is critical. ...The THAAD [Terminal High Altitude Area Defense] system there now is designed for a rogue shot from North Korea. A new system would help deter China," he said.
China's armed forces were already deploying increasing numbers of bombers and warships with the capability to circumnavigate US.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
