Martin, who currently heads of the air force's material command, would replace Admiral Thomas Fargo if, as expected, his nomination is approved by Congress.

He inherits a command that spans an area from the US west coast and Alaska to the Indian Ocean and has some 300,000 military personnel assigned to it.

The region includes hotspots such as North Korea and the Taiwan Straits as well as countries such as China, India and Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.

A fighter pilot in southeast Asia who flew 161 combat missions during the Vietnam War, Martin served as commander of US air forces in Europe.

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