The United States Navy plans to ramp up its presence in the Pacific region, positioning as much as 60 percent of its entire fleet there by 2020, according to a report.
Military.com reports the Navy's leadership will, in the short term, deploy two more destroyers to Japan and will add an additional attack submarine to its group of ships in Japan.
The moves are reportedly part of a new strategy the Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard will use to combat growing threats in the Pacific region. The plan, according to Military.com, is called "A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower: Forward Engaged Ready."
"The sea services have updated the maritime strategy in response to changes in the global security environment, new strategic guidance and a changed fiscal environment," Navy spokesman Lt. Timothy Hawkins told Military.com.
In addition to the increased number of ships that will flow through Guam and Japan, the Navy has already begun to rotate new ships through Singapore and both a surveillance plane and Marines through Australia. The larger goal, according to Military.com, is to "rebalance" the Pacific region.
The F-35C, the Navy's new joint strike fighter jet, will also see some time in the Pacific in the coming years.
"Our Joint Strike Fighter will deploy to the Western Pacific by the end of this decade," Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert told the House Appropriations Committee Thursday, reports Military.com.
"We have benchmarked anti-air, anti-submarine, electronic attack and cyber all to how they would perform in the Western Pacific against potential adversaries out there."
That list of "potential adversaries" is sure to include
North Korea, which the U.S. believes is pressing forward with its plans to develop nuclear weapons.
"North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs pose a serious threat to the United States and to the security environment in East Asia," a declassified intelligence report reads.
China, on the other hand, reportedly has more submarines than the U.S. does. The U.S. currently has 71 commissioned subs in its fleet.
Meanwhile, a top
Pentagon intelligence official said Thursday the U.S. is facing an "unprecedented" array of global threats.
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