Japan SDF, U.S. Military Begin Large-Scale Joint Exercise

Tokyo, Nov. 10 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military started large-scale joint military training Thursday, aiming to improve their joint response capabilities.

The Keen Sword exercise is held every two years in the seas and airspace around Japan and at SDF facilities for enhancing capabilities to defend remote islands and respond to possible ballistic missile attacks.

The scenario for this year's exercise is that a so-called gray zone situation marked by coercive activities that cannot be immediately judged military actions occurred in a Japanese island area.

The scenario also holds that an SDF destroyer was attacked, prompting the government to declare that Japan is in a situation in which its survival has been threatened.

On the island of Tokunoshima in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, a drill involving troops attempting to land on the island and those defending it will be conducted.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]