U.S. forces are preparing to disperse across the Indo-Pacific in the expectation of missile attacks on established bases in a conflict with China over Taiwan or in the South China Sea.

To sustain forces across a vast swathe of territory the Air Force has been renovating World War II-era airfields from Micronesia to the Philippines.

Johnston Island was used in the 1950s and 1960s for rocket launches in support of nuclear tests, according to the Air Force Space and Missile Museum at Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Between 1958 and 1975, many scientific rockets were also launched from the island, according to the museum website.

Chemical weapons were stored there until 2003, according to an undated U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report on the island.

Officials also considered Kwajalein Atoll, Midway Island and Wake Island as rocket landing sites, according to the Federal Register notice states.