Complicating the rise in national tasking is the growing need to engage our Pacific partners. Theater tasking has expanded to support more than 40 exercises with as many as 14 countries (some shown here). With the shrinking U.S. submarine inventory, cooperation with allied submarine forces becomes increasingly important. We need friends and warfighting allies in this new world! Currently there are more than 260 submarines operating in the Pacific and Arabian Gulf areas of responsibility.
