US forces on Guam are facing a Chinese missile threat unlike anything else and need more air defenses with deeper magazines, Army officials say

And this is just one line of effort, though, for Guam. A challenge facing the US joint force efforts to build a layered, integrated defense network for Guam is fielding systems capable of working together to intercept an adversary’s attack. Such a barrage could be complex and include waves of unmanned systems, ballistic missiles, and supersonic missiles.

“We’re looking at a pacing threat of China that has offensive capabilities unlike anything we’ve been seeing,” Lt. Gen. Robert Rasch, Director of Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office and Executive Officer for the Joint Program Office for Guam, said at the CSIS event, explaining “it requires us to think differently.”

“We’re looking at a small space, we’re looking at a potential adversary that has a lot of capability and capacity, and so we have to be very efficient with how we utilize the capabilities we have, so it’s causing us to think differently,” he said.

Efforts to develop defensive capabilities for Guam have been underway for a few years now, but major decisions on which agencies will own which equipment and how the capabilities will work together in an integrated fashion still remain to be made.

At the CSIS talk, Army officials noted that work is underway on how to best incorporate a range of different offensive and defensive capabilities. These include Patriot air- and missile-defense systems, the in-development Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor planned to replace Patriot’s radar, newly fielded Mid-Range Capability missile launchers, and prototype Indirect Fire Protection Capability launchers.

The main prompt for this letter was, the lawmakers wrote, fear that a preemptive missile attack from China could wipe US forces out of the Pacific.

They argued that “with its current strike capabilities, China can attack all US bases in the region, targeting US service members from Okinawa to those on US territories of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.”

China’s missile force, known as the Rocket Force, is the crowned jewel of the People’s Liberation Army.

In recent years, the US has tracked a meteoric rise in the force’s capabilities, arsenal size, and testing. From 2021 to 2022 alone, the Chinese military effectively doubled its stock of some missiles, including medium-range ballistic missiles capable of targeting US bases in Japan, as well as intermediate-range missiles capable of reaching Guam, according to the Pentagon’s report last fall.

One such missile, the DF-26, has been commonly referred to as the “Guam Express” or the “Guam Killer.”

The sheer number of ballistic missiles in China’s growing arsenal is particularly concerning, but the configuration of such a missile barrage is also worrying for US military officials.

“You have to have a battle management, fire control system capable of adjusting on the fly based on how threats are presented,” Lozano said. “And then, real-time, making decisions, teeing up decisions for operators to make so that they’re survivable and they win in that defensive scenario.”

Although some would argue it could take it further, Guam’s defense is a priority for the US military amid a shift toward strengthening its position in the Pacific in order to deter further aggression from China.

But with the island closer to Beijing than Hawaii, a problem quickly becomes how to ensure the US can maintain that key position should a conflict arise. In Chinese military doctrine, there is a notable emphasis on the idea of a preemptive, surprise strike being ideal for crippling an adversary’s ability to respond.

Guam is currently protected by air- and missile-defense systems like the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, as well as Navy ships equipped with Aegis missile defense capabilities. But people who have been tasked with defending Guam argue additional steps ought to be taken.

A former leader of US Indo-Pacific Command previously told Business Insider that one of the best ways to counter China’s missiles is to make “robust” air and missile defenses a reality this decade — not just in Guam, but also across other Pacific islands, as well as in US allies.