KIRISHIMA TRAINING AREA, Japan — Dozens of Japanese, American and French troops in a CH-47 transport helicopter landed amid pouring rain at a training area in southern Japan, part of Saturday’s joint scenario of defending a remote island from an enemy invasion.
The three nations’ first joint drills on Japanese soil — which began Tuesday and were dubbed “ARC21” — come as they seek to strengthen military ties amid growing Chinese assertiveness in the region.
Japanese soldiers and their counterparts from the French army and the U.S. Marine Corps also conducted an urban warfare drill using a concrete building at the Japanese Self-Defense Forces’ Kirishima Training Area in the southern Miyazaki prefecture.