Navy Adm. Robert F. Willard made his Hollywood debut as the Soviet MiG pilot who challenged Tom Cruise’s character – known by the call sign “Maverick” – to an exhilarating dogfight before meeting his demise in the 1986 “Top Gun” blockbuster.

While serving as operations and executive officer at the Navy’s “Top Gun” Fighter Weapons School at the time, Willard was aerial coordinator for the movie. That got him a short, but pivotal, on-screen appearance as the pilot of an F-14 fighter jet painted black and embellished for the movie with a MiG-style fin flash on its tail.

“I kept looking back over my shoulder, and another missile was on its way,” Willard recalled of the dogfight scene in which he ultimately was shot down. “It was very exciting.”

More than two decades later, in his new role as the top U.S. officer in the Pacific, Willard doesn’t have the luxury of being able to fixate on a single, Warsaw Pact-type threat. His vast region of responsibility, which stretches across half the world’s surface and includes half its population in 36 countries, enjoys a relative peace. But its tensions, like its volatile geology, are bubbling just at or slightly below the surface.

North Korea’s missile and nuclear weapons programs and China’s military buildup and lack of transparency loom large. Terrorist activity threatens Indonesia, the Philippines and most recently, India. Other challenges range from piracy to the proliferation of technology for weapons of mass destruction.

Willard sat down with reporters last week in Seoul, South Korea, just two days after assuming command, to discuss these and other challenges and his vision for U.S. Pacific Command.

“I love this region of the world,” he said. “The Asia-Pacific region, to me, is extremely complex [and] has a great history associated with it.”

As he spoke, Willard had yet to set foot into his new headquarters office at Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii, perched on a mountain with a majestic view of Pearl Harbor. After consultative sessions in South Korea last week and an off-site defense chiefs conference in Hawaii this week, Willard said, he was looking forward to getting settled into his new office and getting down to business with his new staff.

North Korea is high on his priority list.

“A nuclear-armed North Korea, and a North Korea that chooses to provoke and … may be on the brink of succession – all those things make North Korea worthy of our attention now,” he said. “North Korea needs to be watched very closely.”

Meanwhile, China is expanding its military might at “an unprecedented rate,” Willard said, exceeding U.S. intelligence estimates every year for the past decade. Equally troubling, China also has obtained “asymmetric capabilities that are concerning to the region,” including anti-access capabilities, ballistic missiles and sophisticated weaponry.

And even the historically rock-solid alliance with Japan is demanding more attention these days, as Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s new government reassesses security agreements made by previous administrations.

Willard told reporters he’s intent on strengthening the five U.S. alliances in the region and bringing new partners, including China, into the fold.

China abruptly halted all military-to-military engagement when the United States announced arms sales to Taiwan in October 2008. But now that China has demonstrated a willingness to re-engage, Willard wants to increase the interface and take the relationship to a new level.

“China is not our enemy,” he said. “We look forward to a constructive relationship with China and their constructive contribution to the security of the Asia-Pacific region.”

Willard said he’ll work to promote more multilateralism in a region that historically has been characterized by bilateral relationships with the United States. “Ten years ago, the Asia-Pacific was, by and large, a place where … countries were very comfortable talking one-on-one with the United States or with other partners, but rarely together,” he said.

Although that’s been improving, Willard said, current challenges facing the region demand even closer cooperation. He pointed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the power of like-minded nations engaging together, as valuable lessons for the Pacific.

“We are looking for as many partners … as we can find in the region,” he said.

As he takes on these challenges, Willard brings to the job extensive experience in the Pacific, both operationally, as a Navy pilot, and in command positions.

Most recently, he spent two and a half years commanding U.S. Pacific Fleet, the world’s largest fleet command, with its 180 ships, 1,500 aircraft and 125,000 sailors and Marines. He previously commanded the Fighter Squadron 51 “Screaming Eagles”; the amphibious flagship USS Tripoli; the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln out of Everett, Wash.; Carrier Group 5 aboard USS Kitty Hawk; and 7th Fleet in Yokosuka, Japan.

While he’s already putting his experience to work, Willard conceded that the top Pacom job demands an entirely different focus.

“This is a more strategic level of command than the components are, and as a consequence, it will be a little different level of engagement,” he said. “It’s a new experience for me, and I very much look forward to it.”

To help in preparing himself, Willard spent the past couple months consulting with think-tank and Asia experts and working with a small transition team to ensure a smooth transition to his new post.

He noted during his Oct. 19 assumption of command ceremony the vast changes that have taken place in Asia and the Pacific in recent decades. The one constant, he said, has been Asia’s growing importance, not just to the region, but to the world.

Willard said he’ll work tirelessly to ensure Pacom lives up to the challenges, and sends an unmistakable message of U.S. commitment to Asia and the Pacific.

“Our nation’s interests are here,” he said.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates will kick off a whirlwind trip this weekend that will begin with a change of command ceremony at U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii, followed by visits to South Korea, Japan and a NATO defense ministers conference in Slovakia.

Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell announced the around-the-world trip during today’s Pentagon media briefing.

Gates is slated to preside at the Oct. 19 Pacom change of command ceremony at Camp H.M. Smith in Honolulu, where Navy Adm. Timothy J. Keating will pass the helm of the oldest and largest U.S. combatant command to Navy Adm. Robert Willard.

The secretary will pay tribute to Keating, who will retire with more than 40 years of military service, as well as Pacom’s soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, Morrell said.

Willard leaves his post as commander of Pacific Fleet to become the new Pacom commander. Like Keating, he is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate with extensive experience in the Pacific region.

Following the ceremony, Gates will travel to Tokyo for his first visit with the newly elected government of the Democratic Party of Japan. Gates is slated to discuss the security of the region and the ongoing transformation of the U.S.-Japan alliance during meetings with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, as well as the ministers of defense and foreign affairs, Morrell said.

He called the visit “an opportunity to reiterate our strong commitment to this alliance, and also to the agreements that have been reached between our two governments — not political parties, but between our two governments.”

Issues likely to arise at the meeting include the Japanese navy’s at-sea refueling mission for U.S. ships with cargo for the coalition mission in Afghanistan, and
Japan’s agreement to underwrite part of the cost of moving U.S. forces from Okinawa to Guam.

“Whether it be the Futenma replacement facility or the Guam international agreement, we obviously want to work with the new government to make sure they have all the information they need to better understand what has been agreed to by previous governments,” Morrell told reporters.

These agreements, although complicated, are “beneficial to both of our countries and to our long-term relationship and to the security situation in the region,” he said. “So we are obviously committed to carrying them out as agreed upon, but are working with the Japanese government right now to help them get as much information as they need to better understand them.”

From Tokyo, the secretary will travel to Seoul to co-chair the 41st annual Security Consultative Meeting with South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae Young.

Kim, who previously served as South Korea’s chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, assumed his new post in September, emphasizing the importance of changes and reform to cope with the tension on the Korean peninsula.

Gates will reinforce U.S. commitment to the alliance and South Korea’s defense in the wake of North Korea’s recent missile launches, Morrell said.

“We will obviously work with them, as we always do, to try to secure their defense and to try to deal with the threat that exists to the north of them,” Morrell said in response to a reporter’s question. “Obviously, missile launches of that nature are unhelpful and potentially destabilizing, and are frowned upon by us and others in the region.”

Gates will conclude his trip by leaving the Pacific theater and traveling to meet with his fellow NATO defense ministers in Bratislava, Slovakia. The session is expected to focus primarily on NATO’s International Security Assistance Force mission in Afghanistan, Morrell said.

U.S. Pacific Command has updated its strategy to emphasize partnership, readiness and presence.

Bill Carr, the Undersecretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy, says rising unemployment rates are helping the military find more quality recruits.

The House Armed Services’ Military Personnel Subcommittee heard testimony Wednesday concerning psychological stress in the military.

ADM Timothy Keating, Commander of U.S. Pacific Command, provides an Asia-Pacific Military Overview at the Foreign Press Center in Washington, DC.

Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command ADM Timothy Keating delivering the keynote address at the National League of POW/MIA Families 40th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Arlington, VA.

Servicemembers gathered at Barksdale Air Force Base to remember five Airmen and a physician who were killed one year ago today.

Afghan and coalition forces stopped an attempted suicide attack at a Forward Operating Base in eastern Afghanistan Tuesday morning.

The Commander of U.S. Pacific Command says preparations are being made for the day North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is no longer in charge.

Admiral Timothy Keating spoke to reporters Wednesday about the building of a new military base in Guam.

U.S. Forces in Iraq are now focusing their efforts outside the cities, seeking insurgent weapons caches and safe havens.

There’s something about those leaders up in North Korea.  They make promises that they never intend to keep while at the same time, they continue to build up their missile stockpile and nuclear program.  Apparently they as of late feel froggy as that nation announced that they plan to launch a “communication satellite” into space as part of its space program.  I had no idea that the North Koreans actually had a space program.

But according to Navy Admiral Tim Keating, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, he said on Thursday that the U.S. military is prepared to shoot down a North Korean rocket or missile should President Obama give the order to do so.  Folks, with that being said, you can interpret that as the North Koreans launching one of their long-range missiles – in this case, probably a Taepodong-2.

That particular missile has the capability to reach the state of Alaska and it is entirely possible that the North Koreans will – if they haven’t done so already – prepare to test an advanced version of the Taepodong-2 which would be able to reach the western U.S.  By the way, the launch of the “satellite” is scheduled for the month of March – just in time for the North Korean parliament elections. 

The main newspaper in South Korea, Dong-a Ilbo reported on Tuesday that the North has built an underground fueling facility near its launch pad, making it harder for spy satellites to detect that a missile is being prepared for a launch.  Assuming that this is true, a meeting between the National Security Council, the Secretary of State and other relevant agencies is most definitely in order.

It makes no sense for a nation such as ours to allow some crackpot country – although I think that the North Koreans can be classified as terrorists at this point – to realize their military or other ambitions.  And this will no doubt get President Obama’s attention immediately.