Since 2004, the US Air Force has rotated heavy bombers through the Western Pacific island of Guam. But no more. The Continuous Bomber Presence (CBP), which started in President George W. Bush’s first term and continued through President Barack Obama’s two terms, has now been abruptly terminated in this fourth year of President Donald Trump. The world hasn’t changed – the US has. This appears another step in its withdrawal from the world in general, and the Western Pacific in particular.
For the last 16 years, B-52, and more recently B-1 and B-2, bombers have been deployed to Guam to undertake the descriptively titled Bomber Assurance and Deterrence mission (BAAD). “Assurance” in the sense of reassuring worried allies, partners and friends that the US is firmly committed to the Western Pacific region. “Deterrence” in the sense of being well-positioned to be able to quickly take swift retaliatory action if any nation decided to attack a US ally, partner or friend. The threat of such USAF bomber strikes would hopefully deter any aggressor from military adventurism. Having the bombers at Guam, deep in the Western Pacific region, was a highly visible reminder to all about American abilities to apply considerable military power at short notice, to both reassure and deter.
Various rationales are advanced for the bombers’ sudden withdrawal, most based on then–US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis’s 2018 National Defence Strategy. The rationales draw attention to this document’s direction that US force deployments must be “operationally unpredictable” to “challenge competitors by maneuvering them into unfavourable positions, frustrating their efforts, precluding their options while expanding our own, and forcing them to confront conflict under adverse conditions”. The dense military doctrinal language highlights that this guidance is really meant for the tactical and operational levels of war, not the strategic level. The guidance arguably is being misused.
Please click here to read the full “Discontinued: America’s Continuous Bomber Presence” article originally published at The Interpreter written by Griffith Asia Institute Visiting Fellow, Peter Layton
