This is a bit concerning, though the title of "Shut out the USAF" is kinda clickbait-y exaggeration. It's certainly an escalation in the little island "cold war

This is a bit concerning, though the title of "Shut out the USAF" is kinda clickbait-y exaggeration. It's certainly an escalation in the little island "cold wars" of the pacific. Many countries have competing claims on the island and play a little military "chicken" every now and then, usually with minor ships or handfuls of troops. This is the first I've read of any country putting major semi-fixed military hardware on any of these contested islands, though. Clearly missiles like this are a concern for the USAF, but the technology and tactics are in place to deal with them. They certainly do limit the kind of operations that any opposing AF would be willing to undertake without carrying out a strike against the missiles. Like sure, we could probably take them out with the latest fighters and missiles on a well-planned mission, but how willing would we be to send transport or recon aircraft or lone fighters wandering around where they might be in range of these things? What might we, or any other nation, be willing to do around them without attacking them and thus possibly triggering a much larger war? That's the level they're operating at here. I wonder if any other nations will start basing their own high-end hardware on contested islands, or ask the US to do it?