When it comes to airport density, if Guam considers itself to be the second, there is probably no place in the world that dares to claim to be the first.Guam, an island with an area of less than 550 square kilometers and a population of less than 180,000, has three airports.You know, even New York, which claims to be the busiest city in the world, has only three airports.And how big is New York?
789 square kilometers; And how many people are there in New York?
More than 20 million!
But there is no way, who made Guam's strategic position too important?
So, the three airports on Guam, except for the commercial Antonio Wangpat International Airport, the other two airports are military airfields belonging to the U.S. military.The airfield at Anderson Strategic Air Force Base in the Igo Heights on the northeastern tip of the island has a total of four runways, two main runways and two alternate runways.Two of the main runways are more than 3,800 meters long, enough for any aircraft in the world to take off and land on them.The airfield at Anderson Strategic Air Force Base is one of the top military airfields in the world.However, the airport that Yang Jing and they are going to today is not this top military airport, after all, the Anderson Strategic Air Force Base is the top priority of the US military, and the management there is extremely strict, not to mention Yang Jing and their group, even if they are ordinary active-duty soldiers in the base, they will not be able to enter the airport without a special pass.Don't look at George's father as a major general at the base, but he is not capable of leading such a large group of people who are not active soldiers into the airport.That's a loss of jobs, and in serious cases, it can even go to a military court.Therefore, Yang Jing and the others can only go to the airport in the northwest corner of Guam today.Speaking of this airport, it can be said that it is the oldest airport on Guam, before the Pacific War, this airport was built by the Americans, but later after I occupied Guam, I expanded this airport on a large scale, and turned this airport into the most important military airport in Guam.Later, the Americans recaptured Guam and built Anderson Strategic Air Force Base from the northeast corner of the airport, so the airport gradually became a backup airfield.Although the U.S.
Air Force was subordinate to the U.S.
Army during World War II, in 1947 the U.S.
Air Force became independent and became an independent service, so the U.S. military simply transferred this airport to the Army, making this airport a backup airfield under the jurisdiction of the U.S.
Army.However, although the jurisdiction of the airport belongs to the U.S.
Army, the vast majority of the use of the airport is in the U.S.
Air Force, which often uses the airport to train new pilots."
Boss, when I was serving in Guam, I trained at this airport."
Sitting in the Humvee, George pointed to the slightly dilapidated airport and said, with a look of remembrance.From a distance, the airport is indeed dilapidated and a little out of shape.Normally, there are no tall plants such as trees in the vicinity of the runway, but this airport is covered with lush trees between the four runways, and the canopy of some trees even covers the westernmost alternate runway."
How did this airport become like this?
Is it okay to take off and land planes with this kind of beating?
”Yang Jing didn't know much about this situation, after all, this is a military airport, which is worth a lot of money, and the length of the two main runways is also 2,800 meters, which is enough for most of the American military planes to take off and land smoothly, but it is really a bit unreasonable to be so deserted here.Paolo Adriano answered this question, maybe Aaron said him, or maybe he understood that Yang Jing was a real billionaire, not something that a petty officer like him could offend, so today Paolo Adriano's attitude has become very good."
Now the jurisdiction of this base belongs to the army, and although our air force uses this airport to train new pilots every year, the annual training fee we give to the army is not enough to maintain this airport, and the army still has to pay the bulk of the airport maintenance costs.If it's on the mainland or at bases in the Middle East, North Africa, or even Europe, the Army is still well funded.But this is Guam, where the army has little to no effect, and here is the navy and air force.So" Paul turned his head and made a "you understand" expression, and Yang Jing immediately knew why this airport was dilapidated like this.In a word, no money!
Don't look at the United States all day long, fighting this and that, in fact, the life of the American army is not very easy.Because of the political system, even the military spending of the U.S. military needs to be approved by Congress.According to U.S. law, the U.S. military should be approved by Congress for even the cost of purchasing a screw.If the whole of the U.S.
Congress is united, but on the contrary, a Republican Party and a Democratic Party alone will be a dog's brain, and in peacetime without war, who the hell will pay attention to the maintenance costs of an army airfield stationed in Guam?
Speaking of which, the U.S.
Congress still has complaints about the Department of Defense.Do you think your Ministry of Defense has a brain in water?
An army branch wants to dry hair at the airport?
The army has road aviation troops, but most of them are helicopters, and there is a place where they can take off and land, as for using such a large airport to take off and land helicopters?
Are you going to use this airport as a tarmac for your Army Aviation troops?
Since you are engaged in this kind of oolong thing within the US military, why should you complain that our Congress does not approve maintenance funds for you?
Can you approve funds in our Congress?
The funds approved by our Congress must also be made public to the world and subject to supervision.If we make a fuss about the maintenance costs of an army airfield, those who know the situation may understand, but the vast majority of American voters don't know about it, do you want us to lose voters' votes?
So, let's wait for you US military to sort out this matter yourself!
That's it, you pull the skin, I pull the skin, pull back and forth, and this airport has become what it is now.If it weren't for the fact that the Air Force would still pay the Army part of the airfield maintenance costs every year, even those two main runways would probably not be able to be used now.If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, it would have been hard for Yang Jing to believe that such a thing would have happened to the dignified US military.This is a serious military airport, although the runway is a little shorter, but it is also a modern military airport worth hundreds of millions of dollars, not a bus station!
But such a military airport worth hundreds of millions of dollars has finally become deserted because of high-level disputes.Isn't this, but what is it?
No wonder the Americans are clamoring every day for the US top brass to waste taxpayers' money, and judging from this airport, the Americans are really right.If this is in China, such a good airport would dare to become like this?
The person in charge has long been arrested, perhaps it is this kind of status quo that grandma does not love and uncle does not love, so that the US Army stationed here does not treat this airport very well, and the management of the airport is like an old lady's belt compared to the airport at Anderson Strategic Air Force Base next door - loose and saggy.In a huge airport, there are only two soldiers on duty in front of the door, and they all look weak.And Paul, as a lieutenant colonel of the Air Force who often leads new pilots to train here, is already familiar with the soldiers on duty here, plus he is a serious lieutenant colonel, although he is a lieutenant colonel of the Air Force, but it is not something that these soldiers can afford to offend, so Yang Jing and his party entered this base with almost no effort.Paul didn't even pull out his papers, he could just brush his face here.On the way to the hangar from the airport, Yang Jing realized more deeply the dilapidated nature of the airport.What is an airport for?
Needless to say, everyone knows this.It is said that high-value aircraft are generally parked in the hangars of military airports, such as strategic bombers and early warning planes in the airborne early warning planes in the hangars of military airports in the United States, and ordinary fighters can only be parked in the outside tarmac.In any case, the tarmacs of US military airports are mostly filled with all kinds of military aircraft.But on the tarmac of this airport, Yang Jing didn't see a single plane, but all kinds of cars.As if feeling Yang Jing's gaze, George also shook his head with a wry smile and said: "Several hangars in this airport are all trained aircraft, because there are only training planes left in this airport."
As for the apron, it became a parking lot. ”Forget it, don't think about it.This isn't the Tianqu Airport under construction, what the hell is going on with me?
After passing the tarmac in the northeast corner of the airport, the car walked a short distance to the hangar.Like most military airport hangars, most of the hangars at this airport are semi-underground, and because the hangars are surrounded by lush trees, it is difficult to find the hangar door in the air.In terms of sheer concealment, these trees that have grown for decades are not useless.After getting out of the car, Paul walked to the hangar door, and after entering a series of codes from the electronic lock on the side of the door, the door slowly opened with a rumbling sound, and the lights inside were immediately turned on, and a light gray twin-engine heavy fighter immediately appeared in front of Yang Jing.From childhood to adulthood, this is the first time that Yang Jing has had such close contact with a real fighter, and it is also a famous F15 fighter.This is the most powerful air weapon of the U.S.
Air Force before the F22 "Raptor" officially entered service in 2005, and it was also the only heavy fighter at that time.