WASHINGTON — Robert S. Harward, the retired vice admiral who is President Trump’s top choice to replace his ousted national security adviser, is a hard-charging member of the Navy SEALs who rose through the ranks to top military positions and is close with Jim Mattis, the new secretary of defense.

Mr. Harward, 60, is a former deputy commander of the United States Central Command, the military’s busiest with management of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and served on the National Security Council under President George W. Bush, where he was responsible for counterterrorism issues. He is currently a top executive at Lockheed Martin, the weapons and aerospace company, overseeing business with the United Arab Emirates.

Mr. Harward’s career has closely tracked that of Mr. Mattis, from the time the two worked together in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks of 2001 to his tour at Central Command from 2011 to 2013, which included an assignment heading detainee operations in Kabul.

“He has faced down and defeated the world’s most ruthless and deadly enemies, and he has done all that by Mattis’s side,” said Fran Townsend, Mr. Bush’s former homeland security adviser, for whom Mr. Harward worked from 2003 to 2005. “He has been in tougher knife fights than this, and won.”