TOKYO (Sputnik) — Two F-15 fighters of Japan’s Self Defense Forces are integrated with the carrier strike group’s air wing and were to conduct the exercise with two US F-18s south of Japan on Wednesday.
The exercise will reportedly train air operation and communication to improve interoperability between the US and Japanese militaries.
The US carrier strike group was joined by Japan’s Ashigara and Samidare destroyers last Sunday for two days of exercises. The USS Carl Vinson will be later deployed to the waters near the Korean peninsula, in a show of force to North Korea, which has threatened to sink the ship.