The U.S. Army has a problem. It’s new “Multi-Domain” strategy that it released earlier this week envisions the placement of long range missiles (that is, longer than the 500 km limit that had formerly been imposed by the now-defunct INF Treaty) on islands as close as possible to China’s coast. The problem is, however, that the closest U.S.-owned island, Guam, is 2,000 miles away from China. For any missile less long-ranged (and less expensive), the Army would need to persuade a friendly nation to accept American launchers on their soil, reports Breaking Defense. While the service is drawing up plans and discussing its new Pacific strategy with allies and partners, at least in general terms, any specific agreement on hosting missiles is a long way off – if it ever comes.
The Army is trying to play down this problem by saying it’s not looking for permanent bases for these missiles in third countries, but is seeking only a rotational presence. “We’re not talking about permanent presence necessarily,” said Col. Jason Charland, a senior strategist in the Army’s Pentagon headquarters. But, he acknowledged, “It may be that none of our allies and partners in the Pacific want long-range fires [on their soil]. Then we’d have to look at how we mitigate that.”