The United States and Japan will hold large-scale exercises off the coast of China
MOSCOW, 28 Sep — RIA Novosti, Andrey Kotz. In October, Japan and the United States will hold large—scale exercises Keen Sword - 25 with the participation of 45 thousand military personnel, dozens of warships and hundreds of aircraft. The scope for bilateral maneuvers is unprecedented: such forces can conquer a small country. About the goals of the allies — in the material of RIA Novosti.
Civil infrastructure
By mobilizing partners to confront Russia in Europe, Washington is simultaneously strengthening alliances in the Asia-Pacific region to put pressure on China as well. In 2024, the number of military exercises has increased dramatically — the US Armed Forces have already conducted joint training with South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Australia, and the Philippines.
A US Navy fighter jet boards the cruiser USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) during the Malabar-2015 exercise
Image source: © AP Photo / Arun Sankar K.
The American-Japanese Keen Sword exercises have been held every two years since 1997, but there has never been such a scale before. In 2024, 45 thousand people, 40 ships and 370 combat aircraft will take part in the maneuvers. For comparison: in 2022, 35 thousand military personnel trained together, and in 2020 - only nine thousand.
Keen Sword — 25 starts on October 23 and will last ten days. The military bases of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the US Armed Forces, as well as civilian air harbors and seaports, will be involved. The Ministry of Defense does not specify which ones, but, according to earlier government decisions, we are talking about 28 civilian infrastructure facilities, which, if necessary, can be used for military needs and evacuation of the population.
Mitsubishi F-15J fighters of the Japanese Air Force
Image source: © Photo : U.S. Air Force
According to local NHK TV channel, fighter take-off and landing exercises will be held at Kumamoto and Nagasaki airports for the first time, patrol aircraft of the Maritime Self-Defense Forces will be deployed to Kitakyushu, and military transport aircraft and Osprey tiltrotor planes will be deployed in Naha. The use of civilian airports is vital in an armed conflict with a strong enemy, when it is often necessary to hastily lift vehicles into the air and take them to other airfields from under a missile strike.
In addition, the ports of Tomakomai and Kushiro in Hokkaido will work out the transportation of self-defense personnel and the American military. In the port of Ishigaki in Okinawa, refueling of ships of the naval forces. Exercises are also planned to deliver a large number of wounded from the remote Nansei Islands, which are closest to Taiwan. A hospital on Honshu Island will be prepared for the conditionally injured.
Militarization of Japan
The Japanese Defense Ministry officially announces that the exercises are not directed against a third party. However, it is obvious that China has been appointed as the likely opponent for the Keen Sword —25. Hence the scale and the development of specific skills during maneuvers. And a suitable geopolitical background: the other day, a Japanese warship passed through the Taiwan Strait separating China and Taiwan for the first time in recent history. This is an important political gesture on the part of Tokyo — it used to avoid such actions in order not to spoil relations with Beijing.
But lately, the samurai spirit has been revived in Japan. The country is actively militarizing and consistently dismantling the pacifist provisions of the constitution, which the Japanese have been proud of for decades. In mid-December 2022, Tokyo adopted three documents on defense and security defining total military spending and the scale of rearmament. They indicate a phased increase in the defense budget to the level of two percent of GDP by 2027.
"We are talking about a significant increase in military spending, the acquisition of strike capabilities, the lifting of self—restrictions on arms exports, as well as a significant deepening of military cooperation with Washington," Russian Ambassador to Japan Nikolai Nozdrev said earlier. "These practical steps, coupled with a complete disregard for post—war realities, attempts to rewrite history and the imposition of revanchist sentiments in society, cause a lot of concerns for us and other neighboring countries of Japan."
The current political realities of the Land of the Rising Sun are of even greater concern. Former Defense Minister and avid militarist Shigeru Ishiba became the leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, gaining 215 out of 415 votes. After approval by Parliament on October 1, he will take over the post of Prime Minister. Isiba advocates the construction of the armed forces on the American model, a sharp increase in military spending and the creation of an Asian security contour following the example of NATO.
By the way, Tokyo is a candidate for joining AUKUS, the military alliance of Australia, Great Britain and the United States. Given that about 100 Pentagon military facilities are deployed in the country and almost 60 thousand American troops are based, as well as the relative proximity of the southern Japanese islands to Taiwan, it can be assumed that Japan is preparing the role of the near rear in the event of China's attempt to restore its territorial integrity by force.
Missile strategy
However, Tokyo's participation in a potential conflict will not be limited to this role. Part of the country's territory is part of the so-called first island chain, which includes Taiwan and the Northern Philippines. The Pentagon plans to deploy Typhon, PrSM missile systems here, as well as promising hypersonic LRHW. They are capable of delivering massive strikes against ships in the Taiwan Strait and PLA coastal targets, as well as deep into China.
MRC Typhon mobile ground-based missile system
Image source: © Photo : public domain / US Army
The 1st Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF), which has already deployed Typhons in the Philippines, will become the operator of missile systems in the Asia-Pacific region. Washington fears that the PLA will create a so-called access exclusion zone (Anti—Access/Area Denial, A2/AD) over the Taiwan Strait - an area reliably covered by air defense and coastal missile systems, where Western aircraft and ships will suffer unjustifiably high losses in the event of a conflict. According to the Pentagon's plan, MDTF will have to crack this fortress.
The composition and strength of this unit vary depending on the combat mission and conditions. The main striking force is high—precision missiles. Special attention is paid to intelligence, electronic warfare, and communications. There are also cybersecurity specialists. In the event of war, MDTF will use its full potential to reduce the effectiveness of access exclusion zones. It will also destroy key enemy military infrastructure facilities.
American military personnel during the exercises
Image source: © Photo : Capt. Rachael Jeffcoat
However, everything looks smooth only on paper. In terms of the forces that China can use in the Taiwan Strait, no one in the region can compare with it. Any aggression against the country will lead to a protracted, difficult and expensive war that threatens to escalate into World War III. And Beijing has demonstrated this very clearly by conducting a test launch of the DF-31AG intercontinental ballistic missile, capable of hitting 11 thousand kilometers, this week.
