The U.S. military is considering reopening Naval Air Station Adak in the Aleutian Islands. In 2019, the base, which closed in 1997, was used for an Arctic military exercise, shown above. U.S. MARINE CORPS
THE WATCH STAFF
A long-shuttered naval air station in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, situated where the Pacific and Arctic oceans converge, may be reborn as military deterrent to deal with growing interest in the area from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Russia. Recently, the United States Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) Commander Adm. Samuel Paparo told U.S. senators that he would like to reopen the Adak base, a position echoed by U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) Commander Gen. Gregory M. Guillot.
Naval Air Station Adak was closed in 1997 after serving as a Cold War submarine listening post. Previously the island’s base had hosted thousands of troops mobilized during World War II to repel the Japanese advance on the Aleutians. Adak is about 1,610 kilometers northwest of Hawaii, putting it in a strategic chokepoint between the Pacific and Arctic regions. Paparo said at a March 2025 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that the rocky island, which lies halfway between the U.S. and Russia, presents “an opportunity to gain time and distance on any force capability that’s looking to penetrate … It would enable up to 10 times the maritime patrol reconnaissance aircraft coverage of that key and increasingly contested space,” Paparo said.
Adak’s three piers, two 2,438-meter runways and ample fuel storage facilities could accommodate B-52 or C-130 warplanes. The U.S. Navy said it is developing three scenarios for the island, including building a full-fledged naval base, according to Task & Purpose, a military-affairs news site. Funding for the project may be included in the upcoming defense budget. “A fully operational base would greatly facilitate our ability to operate and respond quickly to threats in both the Arctic and Pacific regions” because of its “unique strategic positioning,” a Navy spokesman told the site.
Recent joint CCP and Russian air and sea patrols in the area highlight the importance of the region, Guillot told senators, saying the 1,650-kilometer reconnaissance flights to monitor and deter the CCP and Russian incursions are taxing to crews, which could use the base for refueling and to shorten flights. Adak would also improve his command’s search and rescue capabilities, Guillot said, according to Task & Purpose.
In July 2024, the North American Aerospace Defense Command scrambled three fighters to monitor a joint formation of CCP and Russian bombers, which marked the first time that the CCP’s H-6 bomber had appeared in the Arctic. The CCP and Russia have also conducted joint naval patrols. In response, the U.S. has reactivated several World War II-era bases in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and Palau. Guillot’s prepared remarks in April 2025 to the House Armed Services Committee warned of an increasingly close relationship between the CCP and Russia. “We saw glimpses of this enhanced military cooperation last summer when Chinese bomber aircraft deployed to a Russian Arctic airbase and flew a combined patrol with Russian heavy bombers over the Bering Sea,” Guillot said.