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COURTESY U.S. ARMY
A soldier with Task Force Talon, 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, watched as a missile pallet was lowered during a 2019 practice missile reload and unload drill of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.
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The just-passed 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a $768 billion bill, is now awaiting President Joe Biden’s signature. In the annual defense bill are policy reforms such as on military sex assault and handling of the Red Hill fuel tanks; plus provisions focused on Hawaii and the wider Pacific, including some $465.5 million for military construction projects here.
“There is broad recognition at the Department of Defense (DoD) that we need to modernize our Armed Forces, improve our infrastructure, bolster our alliances and partnerships, and invest in the Indo-Pacific region to face the challenges posed by our near-peer competitors,” said U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono in a Wednesday news release. “Hawaii plays a central role in advancing our country’s interests in the Indo-Pacific region.”
U.S. Rep. Ed Case noted his advocacy for a provision requiring the Defense Intelligence Agency to include an analysis of China’s activities in the Pacific Islands area in its annual report on China’s military power.
The NDAA also includes $2.1 billion for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, a special fund focused on countering Chinese moves in the Pacific. Also cited is the Guam Integrated Air and Missile Defense System, with a proviso directing the DoD to identify the approach for implementing a 360-degree integrated air-and-missile defense capability to defend Guam from advanced forms of missile threats.