A B-2 Spirit bomber takes off from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, in September 2024. The US Air Force has decided not to invest heavily in fortified bunkers for aircraft on Guam, instead creating a wide distributed “apron” for them to operate from on the island. (Shutterstock/wilz94)

Why Guam Won’t Have Hardened Facilities for Bombers After All

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The US Air Force has determined that dispersing its aircraft to multiple facilities is a better strategy than placing them all in one hardened shelter.

The US Pacific island territory of Guam remains on the frontlines for a potential conflict with China, with a vast US military presence. Andersen Air Force Base (AFB) is one of the largest US airbases in the Pacific, and is equipped to handle the immense operational needs of the B-2 Spirit, America’s premier strategic stealth bomber.

It may seem strange, then, that current plans don’t call for the building of any permanent concrete bunkers for the Air Force’s fleet of long-range strategic bombers.

That option has been considered before; indeed, the Air Force built hard concrete storage facilities, known informally as “igloos,” for munitions storage at the base. However, for aircraft the Air Force appears intent on dispersion rather than additional fortification. Earlier this year, it issued a contract award to expand the aircraft “apron” at the key base on the US overseas territory.

The massive 20-acre concrete apron project located on the base’s northwest side was designed to support the Agile Combat Employment (ACE) mobility strategy, an operational scheme of maneuver designed to increase the survivability of air forces by dispersing aircraft, personnel, and equipment across........

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