Senior U.S. military officials have called for the revival of a remote base in Alaska to monitor Russian and Chinese ambitions in the region.
Adak Island, a former naval air facility (NAF) in the Aleutian Islands chain, is located approximately 1,200 miles southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. It also sits halfway between mainland Alaska and Russia.
Adak is the southernmost town in America’s northernmost state and the westernmost municipality in the U.S.
Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command, recently told Senate Armed Services Committee members that Adak should be reopened. U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command’s Gen. Gregory Guillot previously had said the same.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, asked Paparo why reopening Adak is important.
“Senator, it is a further western point which would enable, and along with Eareckson [Air Station on Shemya Island], in order to gain time and distance on any force capability that is looking to penetrate,” the admiral said. “Russia’s Pacific fleet in Russia frequently takes that Great Circle route through Alaska.”
“And it would enable up to 10X the maritime patrol reconnaissance aircraft coverage of that key and increasingly … contested space.”
