Pete Hegseth: U.S. troops on Guam are the ‘tip of the spear’ for American power projection in Asia

Andersen Air Force Base, GUAM — If war with China breaks out over Taiwan, this remote Pacific island outpost — American territory since 1899 — will be a major target of Chinese missile strikes, according to the Pentagon.

Defense officials say Guam’s airfields and ports that host bombers, fighters, spy drones and warships would be lost in the early stages of the conflict, based on intelligence assessments of Chinese war plans.

The island of almost 170,000 Americans is a major military hub located 4,000 miles west of Hawaii and about 1,500 miles from the Philippines at the edge of the Philippine Sea. It is currently host to large missile and bomb storage facilities, Navy warships and submarines, Air Force bombers on temporary rotation and Army missile defenses.

Four B-1 bombers were deployed to Guam in January temporarily for exercises. The bombers conducted flights together with Japanese and South Korean fighters during the deployment.

But the Air Force no longer keeps a continuous presence of strategic B-1, B-2 or B-52 bombers on Guam, officials said.

Five nuclear-powered attack submarines also are based on the island and are regarded as crucial to the U.S. the military’s asymmetric warfare capability against China or other adversaries in the region.

A defense official said briefings this week revealed Guam will be targeted by People’s Liberation Army missiles in the early stages of a Taiwan war.

China’s goal in the war is to rapidly annex Taiwan, the democratic-ruled island located about 100 miles off China’s southeast coast, within 14 days.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stopped here on Thursday and said the major missile defense buildup on Guam is “a model” for President Trump’s plan for a national missile defense system called Golden Dome.

“We’re going to learn a lot [from the Guam defense system] and apply them to defenses on the continental United States, he said following a meeting with local Guam officials.

Guam is the westernmost U.S. territory in the Indo-Pacific and home to about 6,400 military service members.

The Pentagon is investing $7.3 billion here for military construction through 2028.

To counter Chinese missile attacks, the Air Force adopted a strategy called agile combat employment that is focused on moving warplanes throughout the area to a network of smaller airfields to avoid Chinese missile strikes.

The base’s 36th Wing has no permanent Air Force aircraft and instead rotates bombers, tankers and drones through the base.

Mr. Hegseth warned that regional Pacific island states near Guam are seeing growing encroachment from communist China. The United States is standing with allied states to defend against Chinese encroachment, he said.

“Any attack against these islands is an attack against the U.S.,” Mr. Hegseth said, noting the military needs to be prepared for a fight while seeking to deter a conflict with China.

“We are not seeking a war with communist China. But it is our job to ensure that we are ready,” Mr. Hegseth said.

Earlier, Mr. Hegseth told a group of several hundred U.S. troops that they are “the tip of the spear” for American power projection in the Asia Pacific region.

“You are living in a dangerous neighborhood,” he said. “You are America’s power projection platform. The American people rely on you.”

Mr. Hegseth told the assembled airmen the military is being reformed by going back to basics — preparing for warfighting and deterring conflict through increased power.

“We’re going to untie the hands of warfighters,” he said. “We’re going to close with and destroy the enemy. We’re going to train as we fight. We’re going to do what warriors do.”

In addition to warplanes and warships, the Pentagon is also relocating thousands of Marines to Guam from Okinawa.

The Pentagon’s most recent report on the Chinese military stated the PLA can reach U.S. bases in Guam with both ballistic and cruise missiles.

“In the future, PLA [land attack cruise missiles] will likely be deployable on surface platforms like the Renhai class guided-missile cruisers,” the report said.

“H-6K bomber flights into the Philippine Sea demonstrate the PRC’s ability to range Guam with air-launched LACMs.”

Also, the report said the DF-26 “is capable of ranging Guam and can conduct nuclear, precision conventional, and maritime attacks.”

Multiple task groups of PLA navy warships, including aircraft carriers, have conducted deployments near Guam, the report said.

Chinese state media said in November that an attack submarine deployment to Guam was part of Pentagon plans to turn the island into a weapon against China.

“China harbors no strategic hostility toward the US and hopes that it will meet China halfway, refraining from unconstructive actions such as deploying weapons here and establishing bases there,” the Chinese Communist Party-affiliated Global Times stated.

China also was angered by the visit to Guam in December by Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te. Some residents here feared the visit would make the U.S. territory a target of escalating U.S.-China tensions.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Palenske, commander of the 36th Wing here, recently stated on social media that Chinese agents had tried to infiltrate Andersen Air Force Base.

“We’ve had some significant upticks in the number of attempted incursions on to our Air Base by citizens from non-allied Nations … especially when we are hosting major exercises,” Gen. Palenske stated on Facebook.

Those seeking unauthorized access relied on weak excuses. In one case, a security guard asked a suspected intruder why they were seeking access and was told he wanted to use the dog park.

“You don’t have a dog, bro!” the guard replied.

Gen. Palenske then stated: “All right China … Bring it! ‘Murica!’ ”

Guam already was a pre-attack target of China during a Chinese cyberattack by the group labeled Volt Typhoon.

The Pentagon’s most recent annual report on the Chinese military said Volt Typhoon’s targets included multiple critical infrastructure sectors, including communications, energy, transportation systems and water in both the continental U.S. and Guam.

“[People’s Republic of China] cyber actors may target Guam to counter U.S. power projection, given the PRC’s perceptions of the island’s importance for U.S. military operations in the Indo-Pacific,” the report said.

PLA penetration of networks used to control critical infrastructure can be used “to launch cyberattacks that, at a minimum, can cause localized, temporary disruptions.”

A simulated war game recently conducted by a Washington think tank revealed that U.S. forces would win a conflict with China over Taiwan but at great cost, including damaging attacks on U.S. air-power assets stationed on Guam.

During the simulation, scores of U.S. aircraft, including Air Force bombers and fighters, along with Global Hawk long-range drones were destroyed by Chinese precision attacks while airfields were damaged, the report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies said.

China also can strike Guam with a new ultra-high speed hypersonic missile called the DF-27. The hypersonic weapon is said to be impervious to missile defenses.

However, the main threat to the island is likely China’s nuclear-conventional armed DF-26 intermediate range ballistic missile.

In October, the Defense Intelligence Agency published a report that said China is increasing the number of DF-26 missiles that Beijing has dubbed “Guam killers” because of their range for future strikes on the island.

The road-mobile, precision-guided missiles will be outfitted with either nuclear or conventional warheads, the report said. “The commingling of nuclear and conventional capabilities raises the potential for inadvertent escalation during a conflict,” the report said.

The road-mobile missile system “can conduct both conventional and nuclear precision strikes against ground targets as well as conventional strikes against naval targets,” the report said.

China has said the U.S. withdrawal from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty between the United States and Russia in 2019 weakened strategic stability between the world’s top nuclear powers.

In response, China has “fielded thousands of weapon systems, including the DF-26, that would be covered by the treaty if China were to participate,” the report said.

China’s force of DF-26s increased from 200 launchers in 2019 to 350 launchers in less than seven months.

With a range of 2,485 miles, the missile can reach Guam from mobile launchers in southern China.

Admiral Sam Paparo, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific command, has said protecting Guam with a multi-layered air and missile defense was “my No. 1 priority.”

To better defend against attack, the Pentagon is conducting a crash program to build up missile and air defenses on Guam. A total of $1.5 billion was authorized for the defenses in 2024.

The upgraded defenses will include adding additional units of the currently deployed battery of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, an Army missile defense.

Other defenses will seek to produce what the military described as a “360-degree” protection system against missile and air strikes.

Added systems will include additional THAAD, and Navy SM-6 and SM-3 Block IIA missile interceptors, the Aegis Ashore system, along with high-technology radar and sensors.

Mr. Hegseth said the Guam defense system will be a model for President Trump’s Golden Dome national missile defense system.

Despite the missile defense plans, the Pentagon announced in October it is scaling back the number of sites on the island for defenses from 35 locations to 16 sites.

The changes were outlined in a draft environmental impact statement.

The defenses will not be fully completed until 2035 and the first elements will be deployed in early 2025.

“Guam is a key strategic location for sustaining and maintaining U.S. influence, deterring adversaries, responding to crises, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the impact statement said. “An attack on Guam would be considered a direct attack on the U.S. and would be met with an appropriate response.”

Mr. Hegseth arrived in Manila Thursday night aboard an Air Force E-4 nuclear command post aircraft. He is scheduled to meet Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday.