Andersen Air Force Base on Guam is the most important fully sovereign US Air Force base in the Eastern Pacific. However, it exists in a much broader context that includes important US bases in Japan and South Korea as well as bases in the Philippines and Australia. In the event of a conflict, some of these bases might not be available, as a country like South Korea could declare its neutrality.
Another issue is that Andersen is a very obvious target that could be knocked out, even temporarily. For aircraft to land and continue to…
