On October 28, about 47,000 troops of the Japan Self-Defense Force and more than 10,000 US servicemen united to launch the Keen Sword 19 military exercise – the biggest drill of its kind since the biennial joint maneuvers in 1986.
The US forces participating in the drill include vessles from of the Seventh Fleet, as well as the Submarine Group 7 – both of which are based in Japan’s Yokosuka. Japan employed roughly a fifth of its of its military. Two Canadian warships are also taking part in the drills.
“Keen Sword will give U.S. and Japanese forces an opportunity to practice critical air, maritime and amphibious capabilities essential for Japan’s defense and for regional security. Just as important, the exercise is a visible demonstration of the strength and durability of the U.S-Japan Alliance and our shared pursuit of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific region.
This year’s exercise will feature dozens of U.S. and Japanese ships, hundreds of aircraft and around 57,000 personnel from both nations, all committed to working together to enhance crisis response capabilities and improve readiness,” U.S. Forces Japan said in a statement.
The military drills are taking place amid the growing tensions between the US-led bloc and China. The Trump administration is engaged in the deep conflict with the adminsitration in diplomatic, economic and military spheres. The tensions are specially high in the South China Sea where Beijing claims a large portion of the area using artificial islands. The US seems this effort as a challenge for its global dominance but hardly can do something right now.
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These exercises are a charade and total waste of American and Japanese taxpayers’ money. The only kind of war US could launch against China is a nuclear war — mostly out of the question, given Chinese missile and nuclear capabilities. An invasion of China by the US or combined US-Japan force is completely out of the question. The total number of US infantry currently stationed in Japan is less than 5,000. The total number of US Marine Corps personnel in Japan is less than 20,000. The Chinese military numbers more than 2,000,000 active duty personnel–almost double what the US military in its entirety currently fields. Could somebody please pass this information along to President Donald Trump and US military planners at the Pentagon.
When people work harfd and make money, it certainly is non of Your business, what they use them for at all…
Using 2 (2,5) mio soldiers to compare with make no sense at all. Most of those are low infantery supported by old artillery. China also those years do their best to reduce that non usefull force and upgrade the rest into where its relevant.
So compare with that.
And by the way You are also not able to see how many troops and other kinds of weapons
USA could bring in fast, if needed.
You also ignore others in the area do improve their local fleets and forces against China.
Are you serious? Are you really ready to commit US troops, which would have to number in the hundreds of thousands, to a land invasion of China? US is already fighting 3 wars (Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria) and assisting in 2 more (Libya and Yemen). It is on the losing side in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. US infantry is undermanned. US Navy is having serious technical problems. 400 US naval officers relieved of duty for corruption and dereliction of duty. F-35 fighter is periodically grounded.
Good luck with your war against China!
I never has written anything even close to, what You write about me.
I see a fast well covered defenceline from Japan to Manilla.
There’s always way to much hype about these drills, they were going on all the same in peacetime except nobody was paying attention back then. And they hardly fuel conflicts, except in the way that some people like to believe military drills fuel conflicts.
I agree. Its a tradition. These days we also see a big one in Norway. Russians has blamed for that too. The maincenter for that is more then 1000 km away, but of course its spread a lot out by ships and airforces as well.
Good pictures from Murmansk about the Russian fleet mismaneging Kutznesof sinking its drydock.