TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The US urgently needs to bolster its air base defenses, as China’s air bases will outlast US infrastructure in the event of a Taiwan conflict, according to a report by the Washington, D.C.-based think tank Hudson Institute.
The report "Concrete Sky: Air Base Hardening in the Western Pacific” on Tuesday warned that US airfields face a severe threat of attack, Nikkei Asia reported. It said China’s People’s Liberation Army aircraft strike forces, ground-based missile launchers, surface and subsurface vessels, and special forces could cause great losses to US aircraft on the ground at airfields.
China has invested heavily in fortifying its airfields, the researchers said. Since the 2010s, the PLA has doubled its hardened aircraft shelters, made with reinforced concrete and steel, from 370 to over 800. Meanwhile, non-hardened shelters have risen from 1,100 to 2,300, providing China with over 3,000 shelters to house and hide its aircraft.
The authors noted China has fortified its air bases with enough concrete to bridge the distance between Washington to Chicago, or Tokyo to Seoul. In addition, it has added 20 runways and 40 runway-length taxiways, and increased ramp area by 75%.
Within 1,000 NM (1,852 km) of the Taiwan Strait, China now has 134 airfields containing around 650 hardened and 2,000 non-hardened shelters. In contrast, within 1,000 NM of the Taiwan Strait and outside South Korea, the US has added two hardened and 41 non-hardened shelters, one runway, and one taxiway, and increased ramp area by 17%.
The report said the US military has not devoted enough resources to its air base defenses, allowing the PLA to exert far less effort to take down US airfields. It said that combined US, allied, and partner airfield capacity within 1,000 NM of the Taiwan Strait is still only one-third of China’s.
The authors attributed the US’ lack of attention to its air bases partly due to a "distorted perception" during the 1990-91 Gulf War. US precision strike weapons easily damaged Iraq's hardened air shelters, but the report emphasized that shelters have become more resilient with advancements in steel and concrete.
The report urged the US Defense Department to refocus its resources on base hardening, even if it means investing less in military aircraft. The authors added, “The plan to forgo the construction of approximately US$30 million hardened aircraft shelters for new over-US$600 million B-21 bombers is a foolish decision that endangers the US’s ability to strike globally.”
It pointed to an additional report by RAND Corporation, emphasizing passive defenses, such as redundancy, geographic distribution and tactical dispersal, hardening, reconstitution, and camouflage, concealment, and deception capabilities, as the most cost-effective way to build resilient architectures.