Air Force Magazine:

The Indo-Pacific region needs a large influx of spending to bolster missile defense, both at the strategic location of Guam and at other locations across the vast area of operations, the nominee to lead the region’s combatant command argued March 23.

Adm. John C. Aquilino, the commander of the Navy’s Pacific Fleet who has been tapped to lead U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, told lawmakers the command’s recently disclosed $4.7 billion Pacific Deterrence Initiative request for the next fiscal year is the “poster child” of top capabilities needed in the military’s priority theater. If confirmed, Aquilino would replace Adm. Philip S. Davidson, who has led the command since May 2018.

“The missile defense concern is throughout the theater,” Aquilino said.

Davidson recently told lawmakers that the PDI request includes building an Aegis Ashore missile defense system for Guam, along with ground-based precision strike capabilities and over-the-horizon radars.

The defense of Guam is the command’s top unfunded priority, and Aquilino said because there are 170,000 U.S. citizens and 20,000 service members on the island, “force protection is absolutely required”…

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