Pentagon Rebrands PACOM as ‘Indo-Pacific Command’

IBSA

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2011
Messages
1,155
Likes
1,596
Country flag
Pentagon Rebrands PACOM as ‘Indo-Pacific Command’



The change is symbolic, defense officials say, but it emphasizes the U.S.’s commitment to new partnerships.


U.S. Pacific Command, the military’s largest geographical area command, has a new name: U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday. The change follows a year of Pentagon signals about stretching beyond East Asia and into the subcontinent, in part to better compete with China and Iran.

“In recognition of the increasing connectivity of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, today we rename the U.S. Pacific Command to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command,” Mattis said Wednesday at the command’s headquarters in Honolulu. “Over many decades, this command has repeatedly adapted to changing circumstances, and today that carries that legacy forward as America focuses west.”

For weeks, Mattis had occasionally referred to the Far East as the “Indo-Pacific” region. Speculation about the name change heated up a week ago when one reporter publicly inquired about it at the Pentagon. Mattis made it official at the change-of-command ceremony in which Adm. Harry Harris turned PACOMover to Adm. Phil Davidson.

Under the U.S. military’s scheme for dividing the globe into six geographic combatant commands, India was already part of Pacific Command. No personnel or assets are being moved as part of the change.“The re-branding is about recognizing the reality of India’s rise and role in regional and global security,” a senior defense official told reporters traveling with Mattis. “In addition, it recognizes the reality that in order to provide security in the region it’s necessary to acknowledge and capture the connectivity between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The U.S. wants to work with India to help it expand its relationships in the region.”

At press time, Pentagon officials had not announced the command’s new informal military acronym-style name, though one official said it would likely be along the lines of INDO-PACOM.

The U.S. has been rethinking the Pacific-Indian Ocean linkagesince at least 2011, when President Barack Obama announced a “pivot to the Pacific.” The shift was later criticized as lacking conviction and heft, especially as U.S. involvement in Middle East conflicts lingered.

Under Trump’s administration, the Pentagon has prioritized a stronger relationship with India, but it has come amid a stated return to great-power competition — and of course, the U.S.involvement in conflicts in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa.

The Trump administration has supported a push to sell India U.S. fighter jets to deepen cooperation with the world’s most populous democracy and to counterbalance China. And Mattis has lobbied lawmakers for an exception to the Russia sanctions law, believing it would hinder the Pentagon’s ability to work with India, whose arsenal is full of Soviet and Russian military technology. (House lawmakers were persuaded; their Senate counterparts were not.)

By and large, defense hawks on the Hill support the shift. When Davidson, the command’s new chief, said in his confirmation hearing last month that the U.S. had a “historic opportunity” to build a relationship with India and that he intended to devote “great energy” to doing so, senators were receptive. The House Armed Services Committee’s version of the annual defense policy bill renamed PACOM as Indo-Pacific Command; it was passed by the whole chamber on May 24.

Mattis continues his Asia trip this weekend to attend the annual conference of regional defense ministers at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.


  • Caroline Houck is a staff correspondent at Defense One. She previously was an Atlantic Media fellow.
https://www.defenseone.com/threats/...ific-command/148612/?oref=defenseone_today_nl
 

Kalki_2018

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2017
Messages
720
Likes
1,253
Country flag
Meaning less change. As if India is going to join so called QUAD or sign COMASA based on this.
 

scatterStorm

Senior Member
Joined
May 28, 2016
Messages
2,242
Likes
5,335
Country flag
:facepalm: there goes the new world orders way to push there national interest on developing countries to fight there war's, so that we pool so much resources that our economy goes into debt, then later we pay our debts by taking more loan from them (It's the same screw up that made Pakistan a bitch of China). I hope our IN doesn't fall for this trap. Le't keep things simple, buy some planes and tech form them to keep them happy, learn a bit more about new tech, manufacturing and logistics, and later throw your hand in the air and say ... humsey nai ho payega! :troll:

I think Indian Navy should strictly keep it's interest restricted to defending IOR. Mind our own business, that's how you build respect among countries and not by policing the waters globally. :playball:

You can Rebrand a Subway burger to look like a Mac burger ... but it's still a burger. :yo:
 

binayak95

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2011
Messages
2,449
Likes
8,413
Country flag
People don't seem to get the simple fact that this is not a tit for tat relationship between India and the US. The critical movers of this relationship are the Pentagon and State Dept in the US, the various senior level IAS officers of South Block, and influential members of the Indo American community. Trump is a blimp in the larger scheme of things.

So while you hear of things like the CAATSA and Trump's idiotic trade wars, the institutions mentioned above will keep doing their job.

Naval Cooperation and Intel sharing and mil exercises will continue. Arms deal will continue. Businesses will invest in each other's nations, US Think Tanks will keep calling for greater and stronger Indo US partnerships and we will cooperate on far more fronts.

Nothing will come out of our S400 acquisition. And this might be a rude shock to some, but we are a part of the Quad and are heading towards the signing of the three fundamental agreements - with riders of course.
 

tamilandhindu

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2018
Messages
55
Likes
27
I'm glad that the US military has decided to reflect the geopolitical societies of South Asia by segregating Pakistan into the Middle East. I think we should do more to offload the costly military expenditures to the US, who happen to have the reserves ready to use on such engagements, rather than overlooking poverty in our country.
 

hit&run

United States of Hindu Empire
Mod
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
14,104
Likes
63,370
I haven't yet read the credible answer to this new nomenclature.

It reflects poorly on Indian members when they borrow media cliches' and with a little bit of spin vomit it out here at DFI.

We are already accused of illiteracy when it comes to analysis on defence. On top of that no Indian defence professionals participate in our debates they rather go to stupid media debates and have become more political than politicians themselves.

Having said that this thread has given plausible theories and thanks to @Zer0 for an informative AV.

In my theory after watching American posturing; they are downsizing the naval resources and it stated with Obama and Trump has followed the suit. Apart from sporadic political rhetorics against China, the actual force concentration in the Indio-Pacific region has not gone up if not gone down. The so-called trade war is also fizzling out which suggest they are recognizing the Chinese rise in their own arrogant way.

This nomenclature suggests they are expanding the region under the previous command by distributing the force.

Possibly they are diverting the IOR specific naval resources towards Mediterranean or Baltic regions to check Russia.

As far as India specific analysis on this christening is a concern then they are also recognising our endowments in the region. There is no sign that they are going to look after India's security concerns by paying from their own pockets. India is also happy with this arrangement and time and again we have made it clear to them.
 
Last edited:

ezsasa

Designated Cynic
Mod
Joined
Jul 12, 2014
Messages
31,732
Likes
147,037
Country flag
I haven't yet read the credible answer to this new nomenclature.

It reflects poorly on Indian members when they borrow media cliches' and with a little bit of spin vomit it out here at DFI.

We are already accused of illiteracy when it comes to analysis on defence. On top of that no Indian defence professionals participate in our debates they rather go to stupid media debates and have become more political than politicians themselves.

Having said that this thread has given plausible theories and thanks to @Zer0 for an informative AV.

In my theory after watching American posturing; they are downsizing the naval resources and it stated with Obama and Trump has followed the suit. Apart from sporadic political rhetorics against China, the actual force concentration in the Indio-Pacific region has not gone up if not gone down. The so-called trade war is also fizzling out which suggest they are recognizing the Chinese rise in their own arrogant way.

This nomenclature suggests they are expanding the region under the previous command by distributing the force.

Possibly they are diverting the IOR specific naval resources towards Mediterranean or Baltic regions to check Russia.

As far as India specific analysis on this christening is a concern then they are also recognising our endowments in the region. There is no sign that they are going to look after India's security concerns by paying from their own pockets. India is also happy with this arrangement and time and again we have made it clear to them.
Indo-pacific is not a reference to India, rather to Indian Ocean. Americans were very clear about this.

Some of our jingoistic journos have created this confusion, inserting India into the nomenclature.

Technically we are holding out west end of the spectrum, centre by ASEAN countries and east end by japan and US.

For now it is not a military alliance, just data Sharing and naval coordination.
 

Latest Replies

Global Defence

New threads

Articles

Top