The US fighter jets were joined by 20 Japanese F-15 and F-2 fighters and three US reconnaissance and support aircraft. Japanese and US fighter jets flew over the Sea of Japan, the Pacific Ocean and the East China Sea in a bid to improve their tactical skills and “joint response capability”, Japan’s defense ministry said. The US Air Force did not immediately comment on this week’s exercises, but the service said in a news release last month that it had sent 12 F-22s from the Hawaii Air National Guard to Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa. The F-22s were in Japan to conduct “various missions to enhance operational readiness to defend Japan and ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the US statement said. Also this week, US and Japanese maritime patrol aircraft conducted a drill near the Nansei Islands, the closest Japanese territory to Taiwan, and near the Senkaku Islands, the uninhabited chain of islands also claimed by China, which it refers to as the Diaoyus. This exercise was conducted to “enhance the capability of the Japan-US Alliance for effective deterrence,” the Japanese statement said. Chinese coast guard and navy ships are spending record time in the waters around the Senkakus this year, according to Japan’s defense ministry. China’s foreign ministry told CNN earlier this year that Chinese coast guard patrols in the waters surrounding the islands were “an appropriate exercise of China’s sovereign right.” Meanwhile, Chinese and Russian warships have increased their presence around Japan in recent weeks. Late last month, Tokyo said a total of eight Chinese and Russian ships were spotted in waters near Japan. A Russian flotilla of five ships sailed near Japanese islands for a week, from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south, the ministry said in a press release. Meanwhile, at least two Chinese warships and a supply ship were spotted in the Izu Islands, about 500 kilometers (310 miles) south of the capital Tokyo. One of those ships appeared to be the Lhasa, a Type 55 guided-missile destroyer and one of China’s most powerful surface ships. This week’s exercises come as the US Air Force has moved some of its most vital assets to the Indo-Pacific. Two B-2 stealth bombers have been deployed from their base in Missouri to Royal Australian Air Force Base Amberley, where they will “conduct training and strategic deterrence missions with allies, partners and joint forces in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific. “The US Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) said in a statement on Sunday. “This deployment of the B-2 to Australia demonstrates and enhances the readiness and lethality of the long-range penetration strike force,” Lt. Col. Andrew Kousgaard, 393rd Bombardment Squadron commander, said in the PACAF statement.
