Japan-US Marine Combat Drills Held amid China, Russia Worry
15 Mar 2022
Associated Press | By HARUKA NUGA and MARI YAMAGUCHI
GOTEMBA, Japan -- Japanese and U.S. Marines had their first airborne landing and combat training together on Tuesday near Mount Fuji as the two allies strengthen military cooperation amid growing maritime activity by China and Russia in the regional seas.
Japan has been expanding its defense budget and capability for about a decade and is now revising its key national security strategy in the face of threats from China, North Korea and now Russia.
On Tuesday, 400 troops from Japan's Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade and 600 U.S. Marines based on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa jointly practiced landing and combat operations in a scenario of an enemy invasion of a remote Japanese island, using tilt-rotor Ospreys, amphibious armored vehicles and artilleries such as M777.
The exercise comes at a time when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has intensified worries about what could happen in East Asia, where China’s growing assertiveness has escalated tension around Taiwan.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/headlines/2022/03/15/japan-us-marine-combat-drills-held-amid-china-russia-worry.html