President Bush appointed a new commander to head the Air Force in the Pacific, the Pentagon said yesterday.

Lt. Gen. Carrol "Howie" Chandler has been nominated to replace Gen. Paul V. Hester, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in a statement. He's also been nominated for promotion to the rank of four-star general.

Chandler would work out of Pacific Air Force headquarters at Hickam Air Force Base if the U.S. Senate confirms the appointment.

The former F-15 and F-16 fighter pilot is currently the deputy chief of staff for Air Force operations in Washington, D.C.

Chandler has lived in Hawai'i before, serving at the U.S. Pacific Command and Pacific Air Forces in the 1980s and 1990s.

He also has served as a fighter squadron commander at Kadena Air Force Base in Japan and as a U.S. Air Force adviser to the Royal Saudi Air Force. More recently, Chandler was the Alaskan Command commander.

Hester announced his retirement in conjunction with the naming of Chandler to the position.

Hester assumed command of Pacific Air Forces in July of 2004. In a release, he said that despite the retirement announcement, he does not plan to change the way he does business.

"I anticipate a change of command ceremony sometime in November," Hester said. "There's six months between now and then and that's six months to continue to do America's work in the Pacific — working plans and programs that affect our Air Force units. My focus remains on airmen, their families and the joint fight in the Asian/Pacific area of operations."

Chandler, if approved by the Senate, would oversee the basing of the Air Force's most advanced weapon system, the F-22A Raptor, at Hickam. Twenty of the stealth fighters will be based in Hawai'i beginning in late 2010.

Two other squadrons are being based in Alaska. The basing is part of what Hester called the "strategic triangle" of Hawai'i, Alaska and Guam — bases from which the Air Force can rapidly deploy forces throughout Asia and the Pacific.