The United States and Japan agreed Friday on a new timetable for the return of 2,500 acres of U.S. military base land on Okinawa, a step that is expected to lead to thousands of Marines being moved off the Japanese island and to Hawaii and Guam within 13 years.

"Our plan calls for the immediate return — upon the completion of certain necessary procedures — of certain facilities and areas on Okinawa," said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. "The United States will then return additional locations once replacement facilities are constructed and when a sizeable contingent of U.S. Marine Corps forces relocate outside of Japan, namely to Guam and Hawaii."

In January, Lt. Gen. Terry Robling, head of Marine Forces Pacific headquartered at Camp Smith, said the Marines would remove about 8,000 Marines from Okinawa, leaving 10,000 to 11,000 there, with 2,700 going to Hawaii and 4,700 to 4,800 going to Guam. The total number of Marines to be moved from Okinawa could be closer to 9,000.

Rotations of Marines to Australia are also part of the redistribution of forces around the Pacific.

Testifying in March before the House Armed Services Committee, Adm. Samuel Locklear III, the head of U.S. Pacific Command, said he anticipated the movement of Marines to Guam by 2020 and to Hawaii by 2026.

"The implementation is in progress with the environmental impact statement under development in Guam and land-use alternatives being studied to support a future environmental impact statement in Hawaii," Locklear said.

U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said she was pleased to see progress on the relocation plan — especially in light of the economic uncertainty that has come with sequestration budget cuts.

"Secretary Hagel’s announcement reaffirms the United States’ commitment to the Asia-Pacific rebalance and the vital strategic role Hawaii will play in the future of our military," Hanabusa, D-Hawaii, said in a statement. "This agreement keeps things moving forward by identifying actions that can be taken now to help return land back to Japan, instead of waiting for the Futenma Replacement Facility to be completed."

The plan calls for the controversial Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to be moved to a less crowded location on Okinawa by 2022. That facility still has to be built.

But under the timetable, the first parcel — an access road and surrounding land totaling 2.5 acres — would be turned over to Japan this year.

By agreeing to a clear timetable for the return of 2,500 acres, both nations are hoping to entice Okinawans to drop their opposition to the air base, which many Okinawans want moved off the island.

Fierce local opposition has kept Japan from being able to follow through on a deal originally made in 1996 to allow the base and its noisy aircraft to be relocated to the less populated area of the island.

Japan’s hawkish new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has been trying to revive the long-stalled deal at a time of increasing tensions with China that have led many Japanese to support strengthening the alliance with the United States, Japan’s longtime protector. The deal Friday could help Abe politically by making clear what Okinawans stand to gain by agreeing to keep the base.

It could also help the Obama administration if it leads to the end of an impasse that has left the future of the important air base in limbo and undermined the Obama administration’s strategic "pivot" to Asia.

Announcing the agreement in a room filled with U.S. and Japanese flags, Abe called it a significant step toward reducing the huge U.S. military presence on Okinawa, a legacy of the U.S. occupation of that tropical island after World War II. The base relocation is the centerpiece of the broader deal to eventually move Marines to Guam, Hawaii and Australia.

"We are able to make progress in reducing Okinawa’s burden in a visible manner," Abe said, joined by a dozen U.S. and Japanese officials. "I am extremely glad that everybody could sit down together today and reach a conclusion on this intractable issue."

Friday’s agreement lays out a timetable for handing over five U.S. bases, also in the crowded southern half of the island, by the late 2020s.

For the Obama administration, the agreement is meant not only to shore up one of America’s most important security relationships in Asia but also to demonstrate to other regional allies, as well as rivals, that the United States has the willpower to maintain its security presence despite its budget difficulties.

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Star-Advertiser reporter William Cole and the Associated Press contributed to this report.