US Navy releases image of joint drill with MSDF

March 20, 2018

Tokyo- The US Navy has released an image of a joint drill conducted by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force's helicopter destroyer Ise in the Pacific Ocean.

In the drill, which started on March 11, the Carl Vinson and the MSDF are seen to have carried out formation, antisubmarine and air defense training in the Philippine Sea and the South China Sea.

The Carl Vinson is apparently engaged in warning and surveillance activities in the western Pacific while the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan is calling at the navy's Yokosuka base in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, for replenishment and maintenance, so as not to create a military power vacuum in the region, observers said.

Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft belonging to the U.S. Marine Corps in Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, conducted landing training on the MSDF destroyer earlier this month. Jiji Press