Japan Press Weekly

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2009 February 25 - March 3 [SDF]

Japanese and US troops beef up joint exercise ‘Keen Edge’ in Tokyo

Japan’s Self-Defense Forces and U.S. forces January 15-27 conducted a joint integrated-command post exercise, “Keen Edge ’09”, mainly at the U.S. Yokota Air Base and the SDF Ichigaya Base both located in Tokyo.

The Keen Edge exercise took place for the purpose of enhancing combat readiness and coordination on the assumption of a war in which Japanese and U.S. troops are participating.

During the exercise in which an Aegis destroyer of the Maritime SDF took part for the first time, the both forces advanced their united operations such as missile-defense activities and information sharing.

Not only the U.S. forces stationed in Japan but also other U.S. units, including the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command (AAMDC), a theater MD headquarters covering all Asian and Pacific regions, were engaged in the Keen Edge.

The AAMDC chief of staff said that the role of this exercise was to increase bilateral coordination and integration of all air defense operational missions under Pacific Command.

During the exercise, by using the same computer network, both forces shared an operations map and information on friends and foes in real time on a battlefield in order to simulate war.

Chikamori Hiromitsu of the Tokyo Peace Committee said, “We must make more efforts to let the public know that the exercise is in preparation for air operations in the Asia Pacific region.”