TOKYO – Japan and the United States conducted a joint exercise involving fighter jets over the Sea of Japan, the Defense Ministry said Thursday, a day after North Korea test-fired three ballistic missiles, the Japanese news agency Kyodo reported on Thursday.
The flight of four F-15s from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force’s Chitose base in Hokkaido and four F-16s from the US Air Force base in Misawa, Aomori Prefecture, on Wednesday was meant to confirm the two forces’ “readiness posture,” the ministry said.
The US military said in a news release the drill was intended to “showcase combined capabilities to deter and counter regional threats.”
One of the three missiles fired by North Korea off its east coast was an intercontinental ballistic missile, according to the South Korean government.
The ballistic missile launches, already the 15th since the beginning of this year, came as Japan, South Korea and the United States have been bracing for a possible nuclear test by North Korea.
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