U.S. Navy’s Pacific Presence to Expand, Panetta Says

U.S. naval power in the Pacific will increase as the Pentagon rebalances American forces toward the Asia-Pacific region, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in Singapore while calling on countries to beef up their capacity.

By 2020, the “Navy will re-posture its forces from today’s roughly 50/50 percent split between the Pacific and the Atlantic to about a 60/40 split between those oceans -- including six aircraft carriers, a majority of our cruisers, destroyers, Littoral Combat Ships, and submarines,” Panetta said yesterday at the Shangri-La Dialogue. He heads to Vietnam today before a visit to India.

Panetta is using his first visit to the annual Asian security conference to elaborate on the U.S. military’s revamped global strategy laid out in January.

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