The South Japan News Agency reports that French Army units will participate in a joint exercise organized by the U.S. Marine Corps and the Japanese Land Self-Defense Force from May 11 to 17. The Asahi Shimbun pointed out that this is the first time that the French army has participated in a military exercise in Japan, which is intended to contain the growing power of mainland China.
The report noted that the exercise will be conducted in the southern Kyushu Land Self-Defense Force Kirishima exercise site, the western Kyushu air and sea areas, as well as Japan’s only amphibious force “Surface Mobile Corps” base in Aigaura. 11-13 May in the Aigaura base to hold military chess exercises and other basic training, 14-16 at the Kirishima exercise site, practice air The first is to hold military chess drills and other basic training at the Aigaura base from May 11 to 13, and from 14 to 16 at the Kirishima drill site to practice air assault, town warfare and night warfare. However, the Japanese Ministry of Defense’s Land Forces Supervision Department (Staff) noted that the schedule and training content may change due to the impact of the Communist Pneumonia (COVID-19) epidemic.
It is unclear how many troops the three countries will send to the exercise, but according to reports, the total number may be around 300, and all will not leave the Kirishima exercise site during the mission and will be camped there. In addition, the U.S. Marine Corps will also send four MV-22B “Fish Hawk” tilt-rotor aircraft to participate in the exercise, during the period will be temporarily borrowed in Kagoshima Prefecture, the Maritime Self-Defense Force Kagaya Air Base, accompanied by about 60 U.S. Marine Corps air and ground officers and soldiers.
The French Navy has previously announced that it will host the “La Perouse” multinational joint exercise (La Perouse) on May 7, when the U.S. Navy, the Australian Navy, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Indian Navy will join the event. As France not only still has Réunion Island (La Réunion), French Polynesia (French Polynesia) and other overseas territories in the Indo-Pacific, it also has a number of arms sales customers in the region, such as India, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc., and in recent years has continued to send warplanes and ships to carry out long-distance missions, quite influential in the Indo-Pacific. The South Japan News Agency pointed out that, in addition to the United States, Japan has also recently built a cooperative relationship with the French military, the main purpose should be to control the frequent activities of mainland China in the East China Sea and South China Sea.
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