The future in the Pacific

[CommunityEditor]

From the article --

The new submarine Hawaii will be commissioned Saturday on the East Coast, and "the bias will continue to be toward the Pacific and Pearl Harbor" as decisions are made on where to base other subs, the outgoing commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet said.

Adm. Gary Roughead said as the new Virginia-class attack submarines continue to come on line, "you are going to see the numbers in substantial amounts out here in Pearl Harbor." The Hawaii, the first of those, will arrive in 2009.

"We really have moved our naval forces around the Pacific over the past two years in ways that we haven't done in the past," Roughead said. "We who live here really understand the energy that's taking place in the Pacific today — the trade and the increasing prosperity, the emergence of the economies here."

With U.S. concerns over North Korea, Interceptor missiles capable of shooting down ballistic missiles are being placed on 18 Aegis destroyers and cruisers. Sixteen will be in the Pacific.

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George Washington is scheduled to replace the aging Kitty Hawk in Japan in 2008. The wing of about 85 aircraft will change out in Hawaii, leaving the Kitty Hawk and moving to the George Washington, Roughead said.

The Navy also is looking at basing an amphibious-ready group in Hawaii centered around a carrierlike ship that carries helicopters, Harrier jump jets and Marines.

Roughead only would say "we're always looking at where our forces should be," but added that "amphibious ships are very valuable to us in the Pacific."

More: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/0...ughead_070503/