Japan forms amphibious training unit

March 27, 2017

TOKYO- A ceremony was held on Monday at the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force’s Ainoura camp in Sasebo in the southwestern prefecture of Nagasaki to mark the launch of a training unit for a planned amphibious rapid deployment brigade.

The brigade, modeled after the US. Marine Corps, is scheduled to be formed by the end of March 2018 to protect remote islands, including the Senkaku islands in the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa.

The brigade is expected to have some 3,000 troops mainly from the Western Army Infantry Regiment at the Ainoura camp.

Armed with AAV7 amphibious assault vehicles, the brigade will have tactical and fighting capabilities to defend and recapture such islands, assuming possible invasion by China.

When emergencies occur, AAV7s will be brought to the front line from the Maritime SDF’s base in Sasebo abroad the MSDF transport vessel Osumi.

The Defense Ministry is considering using Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft, to be deployed at Saga Airport in neighboring Saga Prefecture, for the brigade. Jiji Press