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In Japan, the current push aims for a closer integration of forces under terms agreed in 2006 to revitalise the Japan-US security alliance. "Starting this summer, we will move a forward command post of the 1st US Corps out of Fort Lewis, Washington, to Camp Zama [the main US Army base in Japan]," said Gen Brown by way of example.
The Japanese Ground Self-Defence Force will, meanwhile, relocate by Fiscal Year 2012 its newly established Central Readiness Command (CRC) to the same facility. The CRC's mandate includes all military operations outside Japan and it will have a pivotal role in strengthening interoperability with US forces.
Gen Brown pointed out that his growth in active-duty strength allows for a greater capability to undertake military-to-military engagement under the US Theater Security Co-operation Program, which means participation in more exercises. But, he said, there is also a less apparent process under way.
"I have non-commissioned officers [NCOs] from US Army Pacific training Mongolian NCOs. I have NCO candidates from multiple nations across the region attending the US Army NCO Academy at Schofield Barracks [in Hawaii], learning how to be instructors for a basic NCO course. It is the number one requested mil-to-mil assistance relationship that I get throughout the region," he explained.
At the same time, the Pacific region's vast geography combined with the US military's long-standing accent on jointness has encouraged cross-service co-operation as these changes unfold. "If you look at where we laid down our Stryker Brigade combat teams, you'll find a [USAF] C-17 [strategic transport aircraft] squadron across the fence or just down the road. That's not by accident," said Gen Brown.
"If you look at the [US] Navy's Littoral Combat Ship programme, there's an awful lot of support to ground forces built into it.
"That didn't just happen. I have ground representatives sitting on the navy-led littoral working group here in the Pacific."
The US Army Pacific commander then turns to the broader picture of transformation. "No matter where you go, you'll see the modular part of it and the expeditionary part of it," he said.
"If it's one of the component commands outside the continental US [where 15 per cent of the US Army is based], you'll see us focusing on initial and entry forces along with the things that sustain them and command and control them. Inside the US, you'll see them building a rapid deployment capability to push their units forward."
Admiral Gary Roughead, the US Pacific Fleet commander, added: "The US Navy several years ago began to look at the Pacific in a significant way, to look at what kind of capability we wanted to have there. We began to move our more capable forces to the Pacific and also introduce some enhancements, particularly with our forward-deployed naval force in Japan. The emphasis was on areas such as anti-submarine warfare and ballistic missile-defence."
Part of the aim was to improve global responsiveness; this has been pursued through the Fleet Response Plan adopted in 2003. The plan includes a requirement for six of the navy's 12 aircraft carriers to be available for deployment within 30 days, with another two available within 90 days. More specific to the Asia-Pacific, given the QDR's reaffirmation of the region's importance to the US, the navy began to shift some force structure from the Atlantic to the Pacific with a concurrent expansion in strength by about 2,000 personnel.
"But you won't see any desire for increased basing," Adm Roughead emphasised. "We're very grateful for the access we enjoy and for the opportunity to visit countries, but we don't want to add any bases in the region. We're very mindful of the sovereignty issues that play so heavily here."
Nor are there current plans to base additional ships in Guam, an expanding locus for the air force and marines, or to seek new ship pre-positioning locations to supplement those in the Marianas and Diego Garcia.
Japan's growing importance to the US Pacific Fleet is, instead, emphasised through the replacement there from 2008 of a conventional aircraft carrier by a far more capable and responsive nuclear-powered carrier and by the deployment last year to Yokosuka, Japan, of the US Navy's first upgraded Ticonderoga-class cruiser for ballistic missile defence.
"The key challenges really come down to the distances involved and the need to take some of the technology we have today and enter into agreements with some of our friends and partners to allow the operational sharing of information," said Adm Roughead. "For example, in the 'Rim of the Pacific' exercise held here in Hawaii last summer we had all the participating countries - that's eight countries - for the first time all operating in the same information domain."
The admiral further noted a rising awareness throughout the region of the utility of navies working more closely and collaboratively in maritime domain awareness and maritime security, as well as in disaster relief. This has led to "an increasing interest in information sharing that is tempered, at times, by sovereignty concerns and by the need countries have to safeguard bits of information".
Security in the Strait of Malacca, which sees some 60,000 ship movements annually, has been a particular focus of Washington's attention in recent years - and this has raised questions in some countries, most notably Indonesia and Malaysia, over US intent. "I'm very clear when I talk to people in the Asia-Pacific region that even though the flow of commerce in the Strait of Malacca is very important to me, I have no desire for the US Navy to be there. But we can work together, we can train together, we can share information that does not affect the sovereignty of the nations involved. From that co-operative effort we all become better, we all become more effective, and we make it more likely that the flow of commerce will continue unimpeded," Adm Roughead commented.
Then there is China, whose rise is seen by some in the region and beyond as a potential concern. The US Pacific Fleet commander's view is anchored in realism. "I see an increasing capability on the part of the [Chinese] People's Liberation Army Navy, but it's a navy that's building in a way that's not inconsistent with their economic growth and the interests that they too have in security and stability on the world's oceans," he said.
"When you talk about threat, you have to look at capability and intent. What the intent is and what their operational patterns will be are all still very unclear."
Much of the focus for General Paul Hester, the US Pacific Air Forces commander, is on Guam. "The other places in the region [where the USAF is established] are principally static, and Guam will be a growth area," he said, but there is some nuance to his statement, as "static" refers to numbers rather than capability.
South Korea is a case in point. Much of the US force realignment on the Korean peninsula remains under discussion, but the USAF presence at Kunsan and Osan air bases is expected to remain unaffected, with the current command structure staying intact.
However, over coming years, F-16 fighters based there are due to undergo an upgrade to Common Cockpit Integration Programme (CCIP) standard. Also, the squadron of F-16 Block 30 aircraft at Kunsan should be replaced by Block 40s so that both squadrons there are at the same higher standard.
USAF F-16s in Japan have also been upgraded to the CCIP standard and about 12 C-130E transport aircraft are to be replaced by the more capable C-130H. Four more C-130H aircraft are to be deployed to Okinawa, while older F-15C fighters are being replaced by newer F-15C models coming out of the 1st Fighter Wing in Langley, Virginia. However, structure and personnel levels in Japan are to stay unchanged.
Separately, the Japanese Air Defence Command is due in 2010 to relocate to the USAF's Yokota Air Force Base (AFB). "Their commander is dual-hatted as the air-defence commander and the joint task force ballistic missile-defence [BMD] commander. So we will have the commander of our air force in Japan and his staff sitting side-by-side with the Japanese and looking at a common operating picture, all focused on BMD," Gen Hester noted. |
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Post time 2007-4-25 09:28:08
