Adm. Samuel Paparo, center, speaks to Canadian service members while on the Halifax-class frigate HMCS Ottawa during a port visit at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, on Dec. 9, 2023. (Christopher Sypert/U.S. Navy)
WASHINGTON — Adm. Samuel Paparo was confirmed by the Senate on Wednesday evening to be the next leader of Indo-Pacific Command.
Paparo, who now commands the U.S. Pacific Fleet, was approved along with 25 other military promotions in an unanimous consent vote. The upper chamber also confirmed Aprille Joy Ericsson as assistant secretary of defense within the Defense Department’s research office.
Paparo will succeed Adm. John Aquilino, who has been in charge of INDOPACOM since April 2021.
In a 37-year military career, Paparo has served as a sailor, naval officer and a fighter pilot. He has commanded the U.S. Pacific Fleet since 2021 and previously served as the operations chief for U.S. Central Command, which controls U.S. military operations in the Middle East.
Paparo’s experience includes stints flying F-15 and F/A-18 fighter jets and leading a provincial reconstruction team in Afghanistan. He has served in 15 duty stations around the world.
During his confirmation hearing Feb. 1, Paparo said the U.S. remains equipped to handle the rising dominance of China and its larger Navy fleet, but the pace of the country’s warship-building raises alarm.
The Defense Department considers China a “pacing threat” that has the capability to challenge America’s military and spark a war over Taiwan, a democratically governed island and U.S. partner that China considers its own territory.
“The [People’s Liberation Army] navy has been on a historic trajectory these last 25 years and while … I am confident that we would prevail in combat, it is a concerning trajectory,” Paparo said. “We are not overmatched, but I don’t like the pace of the trajectory.”
About 375,000 service members and civilian employees are assigned to the Indo-Pacific region, which comprises 38 nations, according to the command’s website.
