Missile Defense Agency considers lease agreement with Guam property owner

AGATNA (Pacific Island Times) – A draft environmental impact statement for the Guam missile defense system will be released in October.

If you happen to own a piece of land near any of the candidate sites, be prepared to negotiate.

Although the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has vowed to keep its footprint within military-owned property, the installation of the moving parts of the missile defense architecture will require clearing the surrounding area.

“We may have to establish land agreements with certain landowners surrounding defense properties,” said John Bier, MDA program director.

The MDA does not intend to touch private property, but affected landowners will be asked to abandon any development plans. Beal said the MDA will work out a mutual agreement “to prevent someone from building a 20-story building next to where we might install the radar.”

The MDA will formulate a compensation plan, but the amount of compensation has not yet been determined.

The agency has marked 20 potential sites on the island for housing the integrated air and missile defense architecture, which will include multiple components such as sensors, command and control and interceptors. “All of the sites are on Department of Defense land, and these are final sites,” Beal said.

The Guam Missile Defense System is the centerpiece of the Indo-Pacific Command’s $10.4 billion budget proposal for fiscal year 2025. The project is a key component of the command’s Pacific Deterrence Initiative. It is said to provide 360-degree protection for Guam against potential attacks from China.

“We’ll be back during November to hold a series of open houses,” Bill said. “The draft environmental impact statement will show our final conclusions on which of the 20 sites we’re going to use and what assets each site will have.”

The Guam missile defense system is scheduled to be completed in 2027. The project costs $1 billion, and contracts have been awarded for several components. “We have contracts for architecture development or production of existing hardware that is currently in use in the battlefield,” Beal said.

While waiting for missile defense infrastructure to be completed, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency plans to launch a flight test in December, the first in a series of target tracking exercises that will last for 10 years. The proposed test is intended to verify the interoperability of multiple sensors and interceptor systems from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, the Army and the Navy that could become part of the missile defense system being developed for Guam, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said.

The system tested this year will be a temporary installation for initial evaluation, said Mark Wright, MDA communications director. “This is just a test and it will be removed later. In the future, when those permanent missile systems arrive, (the test equipment) will be this type of system.”

Under the proposed flight test operations detailed in the environmental impact statement, the targets would be launched from a C-17 or similar aircraft at an altitude of more than 20,000 feet and at least 800 nautical miles east of Guam in the western Pacific Ocean. The interceptors would be launched from the northwest field at Andersen Air Force Base.

Beale said the flight tests will also require agreements with residents who own property around the test site. Each test cycle will begin in December and last for four days. The agency will offer to lease adjacent properties during the flight tests. “Property owners will be asked not to enter their land between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. during those four days until the flight tests are over,” MDA officials said. “We will notify the landowners. We don’t want them to have to look for it in a 378-page document.”

Bill said that over the next 10 years, notifying property owners will become a routine procedure. “Every time the Department of Defense wants to do a test, we come back and describe the test and then consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service and the (state historic preservation office),” he added.

Unsurprisingly, the Navy’s planned activities in Guam have been met with protests from local activists. The issue of the military’s land use has long been a thorny issue between the military and local communities.

“This is land theft,” said Guam activist Monica Flores during a protest against the MDA’s proposed land locks. “Think about it, people are being barred from their homes or private property twice a year for up to four days each time for 10 years.”

She also expressed concern about the wreckage of flight tests falling into the ocean. “There is no remediation plan,” Flores said. “Our islands are constantly being set up to bear the burden of militarization and once again become a site of war. This does not guarantee our safety,” she said… PACNEWS

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