Samuel Paparo
Samuel John Paparo Jr. is a United States Navy admiral who has served as the commander of United States Indo-Pacific Command since 3 May 2024. He most recently served as commander of the United States Pacific Fleet from 2021 to 2024 and commander of the United States Naval Forces Central Command, United States Fifth Fleet, and Combined Maritime Forces from 2020 to 2021.
Early life and education
Samuel John Paparo Jr. was born in 1964, and is a native of Morton, Pennsylvania. He is the son of a former enlisted Marine and the grandson of a World War II enlisted sailor. As a youth, Paparo attended Cardinal O'Hara High School. A graduate of Villanova University in 1987, he was commissioned via the Aviation Officer Candidate School program at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, also in 1987. He is a graduate of Navy's Strike training pipeline as a Naval Aviator and was later designated as a Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor as a graduate of the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School.Paparo earned an M.A. degree in International Studies from Old Dominion University and an M.S. degree in Systems Analysis from the Naval Postgraduate School. He also graduated from the Air Command and Staff College, the Air War College, the Naval War College and the Joint and Combined Warfighting School of the Joint Forces Staff College.
Career
Paparo's training qualified him as a naval aviator on the F-14, USAF F-15 and F/A-18 airframes; as of October 2020, he has flown more than 6,000 hours in those aircraft, and had made more than 1,100 landings on aircraft carriers. Paparo served with the U.S. Navy's Carrier Air Wing 7 as deputy air wing commander from October 2009 through August 2011, embarked aboard USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. The air wing, composed of eight squadrons, included "F/A-18C/E/F Hornets and Super Hornets, E-2C Hawkeye airborne command and control aircraft, EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare aircraft, SH-60F/HH-60H Seahawk helicopters, and C-2A Greyhound logistics aircraft", with 1,500 enlisted personnel and officers assigned. He subsequently took command of CVW-7 in August 2011, relieving Captain Roy J. Kelley, a position he remained in until December 2012.Paparo then went on to command Carrier Strike Group 10 from July 2017, until March 2018, a group comprising the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, a carrier air wing, and guided missile cruisers USS San Jacinto, USS Vella Gulf, and USS Monterey, and Destroyer Squadron. In addition to a variety of global training and exercise events, Paparo's forces provided intensive support for "Defense Support to Civilian Authorities operations", following Hurricane Irma's impact on the Florida keys in September 2017.
After being elevated to the rank of U.S. Navy Vice Admiral, Paparo served as commander of the United States Fifth Fleet, headquartered in Bahrain, overseeing "all U.S. naval forces stationed throughout the Middle East", including coordination of the 33-country international naval coalition that "oversees safety of those waters and supports operations in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan". In addition, he served as director of operations of the United States Central Command out of MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. and went on to command the Combined Maritime Forces.
As of 5 May 2021, he had been elevated to the rank of four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and was serving as the 64th commander of the United States Pacific Fleet.
In July 2023, Paparo was nominated for reappointment to the grade of admiral and assignment as the commander of United States Indo-Pacific Command. He assumed command from Aquilino during a change of command ceremony on 3 May 2024, becoming the 27th commander of Indo-Pacific Command, the largest geographic command in the U.S. military.
He stated in November 2024 that the delivery of air-to-air missile systems to Ukraine and Israel since the start of the conflicts there has been significantly reducing the stock available in the Indo-Pacific Command area, threatening its ability to counter China.
In 2023 and 2025 Paparo was considered as a candidate to become chief of naval operations. He was interviewed in July 2023 but Lisa Franchetti was selected for the role. After Franchetti was removed in February 2025 by President Donald Trump, Paparo was considered as a possible replacement, but he reportedly declined.