Multinational ships sail in formation during Pacific Dragon 2022, Aug. 12. U.S. Navy Photo
Naval forces for the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and Canada wrapped up the Pacific Dragon 2022 exercise on Monday. Read More
Jandao-class small frigate (615). JSDF Photo
Three Peoples’ Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) hydrographic survey ships transited the Japanese Straits this week while a PLAN corvette sailed south past the Senkaku Islands last week, according to Japan Ministry of Defense releases. Read More
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on Aug. 18, 2017. DoD Photo
Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who led Japan into a more active role in regional and global security over his eight years in power, was assassinated Friday at a campaign event in the western city of Nara near Kyoto. He was 67. Read More
U.S. Marines with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) soldiers with 2nd Amphibious Rapid Deployment Regiment render honors during the Japanese and United States national anthems as part of the Exercise Iron Fist 2022 opening ceremony at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., Jan. 10, 2022. US Marine Corps Photo
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – The U.S.-Japan amphibious exercise Iron Fist will include waterborne training with the Marine Corps’ newest amphibious combat vehicles. Read More
A Japan Ground Self-Defense Force assault amphibious vehicle drives on the beach during an amphibious assault as part of Exercise Iron Fist 2020 on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., on Feb. 12, 2020. US Marine Corps Photo
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – With dock landing ship USS Pearl Harbor (LSD-52) in the hazy horizon, a procession of green-and-tan camouflaged amphibious assault vehicles pushed onto the sandy beach and headed north as Marines with Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, held their positions. Read More
U.S. Marines with 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Japan Ground Self-Defense Force soldiers with Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade stand in formation during the opening ceremony of Exercise Iron Fist 2020 on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California on Jan. 17, 2020. US Marine Corps Photo
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – Sailors and Marines kicked off an annual bilateral Iron Fist exercise with Japanese soldiers on Friday that’s designed to help Japan’s fledgling amphibious force become ready to operate. Read More
Marines with 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Soldiers with Western Army Infantry Regiment, Japan Ground Self Defense Force stand in formation as part of the Exercise Iron Fist 2018 opening ceremony on Jan. 12. US Marine Corps Photo
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — With its official operational date fast approaching, Japan’s first Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade kicked off the bilateral Iron Fist 2018 exercise on Friday with an opening ceremony alongside its Marine Corps hosts. It wasn’t a time for long speeches. Read More
U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), the Japan Ministry of Defense (MoD), and U.S. Navy Sailors aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) successfully conducted a flight test Feb. 3 (Hawaii Standard Time), resulting in the first intercept of a ballistic missile target using the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA off the west coast of Hawaii. For more information visit https://www.mda.mil. (U.S. Navy photo by Leah Garton/Released)
To counter immediate and growing North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile threats, three former Japanese ministers of defense said Tokyo needs to work with Washington to enhance ballistic missile defense capabilities to better defend itself and develop an effective counterstrike if attacked. Read More
Sailors aboard Japanese destroyer JS KONGO (DDG-173) watch pierside line handlers as the ship moors pierside Naval Station Pearl Harbor on Oct. 15, 2007. US Navy Photo
President Donald Trump’s message to Tokyo to pick up more of the burden in the defense alliance “should be a trigger for us” to examine “our own thoughts of security,” a founder of the Japan Innovation Party told an audience at a Washington, D.C., think tank Monday. Read More
A Japan Ground Self Defense Force soldier gives orders to bound after exiting an Assault Amphibious Vehicle, during Exercise Iron Fist 2017, aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., Feb. 25, 2017. US Marine Corps
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – While rough seas and queasy stomachs tested some 350 Japanese soldiers and command staffs who took to sea aboard Navy ships for exercise Iron Fist, time might be their greatest obstacle. Read More
