The Pentagon is renaming its oldest and largest military command to reflect the growing importance of the Indian Ocean in US strategic thinking, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said today.
From now on, the storied US Pacific Command, or PACOM, which was formed after World War II, will be known as the Indo-Pacific Command.
The name change is largely symbolic for now, and won't immediately result in any shifts in the command's boundaries or assets across the vast area stretching from the western part of India to America's Pacific coastline.
"In recognition of the increasing connectivity between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, today we rename the US Pacific Command to US Indo-Pacific Command," Mattis said in Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
"Over many decades this command has repeatedly adapted to changing circumstance and today carries that legacy forward as America focuses west."
The Pentagon chief visited India in September in an effort to further strengthen growing military ties, saying at the time that the world's largest democracy is "clearly a pillar of regional stability and security."
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