America's new plan to fight a war with China

Readying for a rumble in the jungle

Aug 14th 2025
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TINIAN AND GUAM
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8 min read

IT COULD BE a giant archaeological dig. Bulldozers tear at the jungle to reclaim the history of the second world war and its dark finale: the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 80 years ago this month. The work on Tinian, a speck in the Pacific Ocean, has exposed the four runways of North Field. Glass protects the cement pits where Little Boy and Fat Man, the first and only atom bombs used in war, were loaded onto American B-29s. For a time Tinian was the largest air base in the world, but it was soon mostly abandoned.

With China as its new rival, America is reviving old wartime facilities across the Pacific. Tinian once allowed its bombers to smash Japanese cities. These days China wields the long spear: it has built up a vast stockpile of missiles that can blast American bases in the region. Any war between the superpowers would be a cataclysm. And both now have nuclear weapons.

As in the cold war, nuclear worries go hand in hand with preparations for conventional conflict. The air force is expanding Tinian’s small commercial airport as a backup landing place. On the day your correspondent visited, two F-22 jets—America’s most capable fighters—took off with a deafening roar. Crews huddled in tents as C-130 transporters brought gear.

The fighters had deployed from Alaska for the recently concluded REFORPAC exercise—part of the biggest air-force war game in the Pacific since the cold war—involving more than 400 aircraft and 50 locations thousands of miles apart. It demonstrated America’s ability to bring forces quickly from the American mainland. It was also a test of “Agile Combat Employment” (ACE), a doctrine of hide-and-seek whereby American aircraft disperse to small bases to survive attacks by China, rejoin in the air to punch back and then scatter again—like a murmuration of starlings.

More:
https://archive.is/20250815184822/https://www.economist.com/international/2025/08/14/americas-new-plan-to-fight-a-war-with-china#selection-1107.0-1163.197