TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force’s highest operational command this week launched its first joint military drills with US Marines on the Japanese islands closest to Taiwan, in exercises analysts view as reinforcing first island chain defense coordination around the Taiwan Strait.
About 300 troops from the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force’s Ground Component Command and about 20 members of the US Marine Corps’ 12th Marine Littoral Regiment stationed in Okinawa participated in the exercise, per Liberty Times. The drills began shortly after the US-Philippines Balikatan multinational exercise, which also focused on first island chain operations.
According to The Japan News, the joint training exercises are being held from May 17 to 22 across Miyako, Ishigaki, and Yonaguni islands. Miyako Island is hosting joint Japan-US command-post training, while Ishigaki and Yonaguni are being used for missile deployment and drone reconnaissance drills.
Ishigaki Island is hosting deployment and logistics training involving Type 88 shore-based anti-ship missiles. Flight training for the Scan Eagle 2 unmanned reconnaissance drone is being conducted on Yonaguni Island.
The drills are aimed at strengthening deterrence and response capabilities in Japan’s southwestern region. According to Stars and Stripes, the exercise also marks the first establishment of a joint Japan-US coordination center on Miyako Island during a Ground Component Command exercise focused on the Nansei Islands.
Liberty Times reported that the 12th Marine Littoral Regiment has become a key component of the US Marine Corps’ push for Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations and Distributed Maritime Operations. One of its primary missions is to establish mobile anti-ship missile and intelligence nodes on outlying islands along the first island chain.
During the Balikatan exercise, US Forces Korea Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson proposed the concept of a “kill web” in an interview with The Japan Times. The idea involves integrating the military forces of the US, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines into a joint operational network across the first island chain.
According to Liberty Times, the concept took shape during a live-fire maritime strike drill held in northern Luzon during Balikatan. The exercise simulated how allied forces might block Chinese naval access to the western Pacific during a Taiwan Strait or South China Sea crisis.
The Philippines lies to Taiwan’s south, while Japan’s southwestern islands are located to the north. The Miyako Strait is considered one of the Chinese navy’s key routes for entering the western Pacific through the first island chain.
Balikatan has been viewed as representing allied operations on the southern side of the first island chain. In contrast, the Nansei Islands drills are seen as reinforcing the northern side of the same regional defense network.
Liberty Times reported that the exercises closely align with the kill web and first island chain operational concepts emphasized during Balikatan. The anti-ship missile drills on Ishigaki Island and drone operations on Yonaguni Island are viewed as efforts to establish distributed sensing and strike nodes.
