Japan, U.S. to stage joint military exercise despite China’s protest

[Krueger]

June 04, 2013

Japan and the United States will go ahead with a joint military exercise in California to simulate recapturing remote islands, despite protests from China, sources said.

"Dawn Blitz," a U.S. Navy and Marine Corps amphibious training exercise that will involve Japan's Self-Defense Forces, is set for June 10-26. The exercise will be conducted at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego and San Clemente Island.

China called for the military exercise to be canceled ahead of the June 7-8 summit between U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping in California, sources close to the Japanese and U.S. governments said.

Tensions remain high between Tokyo and Beijing due to the territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.

Dawn Blitz is based on a scenario in which the SDF lands on an island with U.S. forces and fires upon occupation forces there.

Japan has explained to Chinese officials that the exercise does not suppose a specific third country as a hypothetical adversary, the sources said.

The exercise is in line with a new policy under Japan's National Defense Program to bolster the SDF's capability to defend the Nansei island chain, which lies between the main island of Kyushu and Taiwan.

After discussing a response to China, Tokyo and Washington agreed to go ahead with the training, saying it is necessary for their alliance.

They also reconfirmed that the exercise will be open to reporters.

The SDF's three branches--ground, maritime and air--have separately taken part in exercises by U.S. forces in the past. Dawn Blitz will be the first time all three branches participate in the same exercise with U.S. forces.

A similar drill by Japanese and U.S. troops was initially planned by the previous government led by the Democratic Party of Japan to take place on an uninhabited island in Okinawa Prefecture last November. But it was scrapped due to fierce local opposition and concern about provoking China.

 

[Saleem]

china is also planning exercises with kiribati to retake nearby islands.....they will involve 1 motor boat, 3 soldiers and on cameraman....

 

[Minjitta]

There goes China giving tall order to USA and Japan, and both Japan and USA ignore the order from China and mind their own business. The ball is in China court now, what China going to do with the ball?
Seem like when China open her big mouth it backfire, and now China get more pressure with in China.

 

[GR!FF!N]

china is also planning exercises with kiribati to retake nearby islands.....they will involve 1 motor boat, 3 soldiers and on cameraman....

????if this is a joke,then it'll not help to keep peace in this thread...

topic....

some videos are publised regarding this operation...

 

[GR!FF!N]

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 3 and 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade (1st MEB) began the synthetic phase amphibious exercise Dawn Blitz 2013 (DB 13) aboard amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4) Jan. 28.

DB 13 is a live and synthetic amphibious exercise that will focus on the Amphibious Task Force conducting the planning and execution of Naval Task Force operations in a non-permissive environment and a large scale amphibious assault.

The synthetic exercise is taking place while ships are pierside; the at-sea piece will take place in June. DB 13 will allow commanders the ability to conduct limited future amphibious concepts experimentation both pierside and while underway.

"The Dawn Blitz exercise is a continuation of an Amphibious Task Force (ATF)/ MEB size operation that has its roots in Kernel Blitz that started in the 1990s and ended in 2001," said ESG 3 Operations Officer Capt. Paul Gilmartin. "And Dawn Blitz 2013 is 3rd in the series of Dawn Blitz exercises that started in 2010, to build the Commander Amphibious Task Force (CATF) and Commander Landing Force (CLF) relationship between ESG 3 and 1st MEB."

The exercise will consist of a series of events resulting in the deployment of U.S. and allied forces against a hypothetical adversary. A major objective of DB 13 is to provide a realistic context for the employment of military forces in support of U.S. policy. One of the events portrays an MEB-sized Marine Air-Ground Task Force operating as part of a combined amphibious task force in an operational environment that reflects challenges that the U.S. could face.

This scenario allows for the integration of Combined Forces Maritime Component Command, Combined Forces Air Component Command, Joint Special Operations Task Force, and eventually, Combined Forces Land Component Command forces as well as allied forces as participants and observers.

"My concern is for the training audiences (1st MEB and ESG 3) to be effective in future combat operations. It is essential to work together so we fully develop the blue-green team," said Maj. George Hasseltine, 1st MEB exercise design planner. "Dawn Blitz provides one of the first exercises combining 1st MEB and ESG 3 staffs together to execute highly complex planning for potential amphibious and expeditionary operations on a large scale."

The purpose of DB 13 is to revitalize Navy/Marine Corps amphibious expeditionary tactics, techniques and procedures, and reinvigorate its culture of conducting combined Navy/Marine Corps operations from the sea as well as to enhance Naval relationships through a common amphibious exercise, with training that focuses on today's fight with today's forces.

The ESG 3/1st MEB team is viewing DB 13 as an opportunity to generate, develop, and analyze operational concepts in order to shape future requirements and inform our naval strategy and operational doctrine.

"Both Bold Alligator and Dawn Blitz are designed around the same principles of ATF and MEB sized operations," said Gilmartin. "The difference between the two is Dawn Blitz 2013 is focusing on tactical level execution, and not as much at the operation level as we saw in Bold Alligator."

While Navy/Marine Corps amphibious training is routinely conducted, it regularly occurs at the Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) levels. DB 13 increases the scope by conducting it at the ESG and MEB levels, and while Dawn Blitz exercises were first held only a few years ago, the Navy/Marine Corps team concept behind them is not new and is deeply rooted in U.S. naval service history.

"One of the best things we were able to do was an integrated planning and war game event with the MEB, back in October, that really kicked off the training process for ESG3 and 1st MEB," said Gilmartin. "And due to the normal routine jobs that we have as a staff, any opportunity to get together and plan at the higher level is really good at ESG/MEB staff, that's why the exercise continuum that ESG 3 and 1st MEB have established on the west coast is going to pay dividends in the future."

The Navy and Marine Corps enjoy a close working relationship, based on past tradition, present requirements and future necessity to project power ashore. The DB 13 exercise is part of an annual training plan that prepares Navy and Marine Corps forces to conduct selective offload and at-sea transfer of personnel and equipment from sealift platforms to amphibious ships, or directly to air and surface craft capable of ship-to-shore delivery.

"We are taking the 1st MEB staff and tying up with partners at ESG 3 and synchronizing the blue green team, so if called to execute operations in the future we know the names and faces and personalities to work with during day-to-day operations of this amphibious exercise," said Hasseltine.

DB 13 ensures the future ability to respond to any amphibious operation requirement smoothly and efficiently, while exploring the feasibility and implication of alternative operational plans and concepts.

Holding exercises such as DB 13 make the Navy and Marine Corps team operationally prepared at any time around the world.


Dawn Blitz 2013: Training for Strength

 

[Krueger]

China asks Japan, U.S. to cancel drill for recapturing island
KYODO
JUN 5, 2013

China has asked Japan and the United States to cancel a drill set for this month in California by U.S. forces and Self-Defense Forces to recapture control of a remote island, in light of the Sino-Japanese row over the Senkaku Islands, sources said Tuesday.

Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told a biweekly news conference that Japan and the U.S. would conduct the exercise as planned to boost both SDF and joint-operation capabilities.

In April, the Defense Ministry said about 1,000 SDF members will take part in the drill set to be held on an island and a U.S. military base in California this month. It will mark the first time SDF personnel participate in such a drill on the U.S. mainland.

Tokyo and Washington say they have no particular enemy country in mind in conducting the drill, noting they have conducted similar exercises before.

China filed the request through diplomatic channels, the sources said, adding that Beijing is firmly against the drill.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to hold a summit with his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, on Friday and Saturday, just ahead of the drill’s scheduled Monday kickoff.

About 1,000 members from the Ground, Maritime and Air Self-Defense forces will participate in the exercise, mainly crew members of three MSDF ships, including the 13,950-ton Hyuga, a helicopter-carrying destroyer, and the 7,750-ton Atago, an Aegis-equipped destroyer.

Around 250 GSDF ranks, 730 from the MSDF and five from the ASDF are to participate in the drill.

Bilateral ties between Japan and China have deteriorated since Tokyo effectively nationalized the Senkakus last September. Since then, China has frequently sent maritime surveillance ships to waters near the islands.

China also claims the islets, which Japan took possession of in 1895.

 

[Minjitta]

China asks Japan, U.S. to cancel drill for recapturing island
KYODO
JUN 5, 2013

China has asked Japan and the United States to cancel a drill set for this month in California by U.S. forces and Self-Defense Forces to recapture control of a remote island, in light of the Sino-Japanese row over the Senkaku Islands, sources said Tuesday.

Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told a biweekly news conference that Japan and the U.S. would conduct the exercise as planned to boost both SDF and joint-operation capabilities.

In April, the Defense Ministry said about 1,000 SDF members will take part in the drill set to be held on an island and a U.S. military base in California this month. It will mark the first time SDF personnel participate in such a drill on the U.S. mainland.

Tokyo and Washington say they have no particular enemy country in mind in conducting the drill, noting they have conducted similar exercises before.

China filed the request through diplomatic channels, the sources said, adding that Beijing is firmly against the drill.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to hold a summit with his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, on Friday and Saturday, just ahead of the drill’s scheduled Monday kickoff.

About 1,000 members from the Ground, Maritime and Air Self-Defense forces will participate in the exercise, mainly crew members of three MSDF ships, including the 13,950-ton Hyuga, a helicopter-carrying destroyer, and the 7,750-ton Atago, an Aegis-equipped destroyer.

Around 250 GSDF ranks, 730 from the MSDF and five from the ASDF are to participate in the drill.

Bilateral ties between Japan and China have deteriorated since Tokyo effectively nationalized the Senkakus last September. Since then, China has frequently sent maritime surveillance ships to waters near the islands.

China also claims the islets, which Japan took possession of in 1895.

it's conflict the interest of Great China when the drill are in California. There are at least two China Towns in California, I guess China planned to claim California in the near future.

 

[Minjitta]

U.S., Japan to send large scale "gift" to Chinese President
US and Japan have prepared available "gift" for Chinese president Xi Jinping with the large scale military drill which China has requested to postpone.


US troops engaged in joint US-Japan amphibious assault training in May 2012

On June 7-8, in California, Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold talk with U.S. President Barack Obama. Also on June 10, at the request of Tokyo, paratroopers of the U.S. and Japan will practice landings on the islands which were assumed occupation. The scenario of the exercise is to deploy the American- Japanese "shield" to offensive against "sword" of China. Japan is very interested in protecting the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. China is strengthening the activities of patrol boats and naval forces in the waters around the islands. The islands are under Japanese control, but China is considered the country's territory.

Japan will participate at an “unprecedented” level in a large-scale U.S.-led military exercise in California later this month, as it seeks to further strengthen coordination with its main ally and its ability to mount an amphibious assault aimed at capturing isolated island territory.

The move is likely to anger China considering the ongoing tensions between Tokyo and Beijing over disputed islands in the East China Sea, a dispute that has shaken both economic and political ties. It also shortly after leaders from the U.S and China meet for a high-stakes bilateral summit later this week, where territorial issues are expected to be part of the discussions.

Japan’s Self-Defense Forces will take part for the first time in the periodic multi-nation exercise to be held in California from mid-June. In the exercise, troops will engage in amphibious assault training with U.S. marines intended to enhance their island-capturing and other capabilities.

Experts say the joint-exercise represents a departure in scale from previous drills involving only Japanese ground troops working with U.S. marines.

Japan has sent three warships, 730 Maritime Self-Defense Force troops, 250 ground troops and seven combat helicopters to take part in the amphibious war drill with the U.S. Marines off Camp Pendleton, California. The Dawn Blitz 2013 exercise will also involve five personnel from the Air Self-Defense Force.

A public affairs official at the SDF’s Joint Staff Office said this will be the first time ground troops will operate from Japanese warships in a drill so far from Japan. The SDF will be participating from June 10 to June 26, he said.

“The exercise is aimed at improving the integrated operation capabilities of the SDF and maintaining and improving bilateral capabilities with the U.S. military,” the spokesman said.

Col. Grant Newsham, U.S. Marine liaison officer with the GSDF, described the joint training as “historic.”

In a smaller exercise last September, a 40-person GSDF platoon sailed to Guam to receive training on amphibious military tactics from U.S. Marines.

“Now, eight months later we have three MSDF vessels, two of them amphibious ships, with 250 GSDF troops with their equipment and helicopters aboard, sailing across the Pacific Ocean to southern California to train with each other and with the U.S. Marines and U.S. Navy in a much more complex amphibious exercise. This is unprecedented,” Col. Newsham said. He added that troops will practice combat skills useful for defending Japanese territory.

But experts say Japan’s participation could trigger a backlash from China as Tokyo strengthens its capability to protect isolated islands. Ties between the two nations have soured over the ownership of a set of islands in the East China Sea that the Japanese call the Senkaku and China calls the Diaoyu.

U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will also be engaging in a two-day informal “shirtsleeves summit” in California starting Friday, where the two are expected to discuss contentious issues including North Korea, cyber-security and maritime disputes in Asia. While the meeting will allow the two to focus on establishing personal rapport, it remains to be seen how Beijing would react to the military exercise.

Tetsuo Kotani, a maritime security specialist at The Japan Institute of International Affairs, said the exercise was “the first step” for Japan to assume its own amphibious landing capabilities, and China would be concerned of such developments.

“Beijing will likely ask Japan not to engage in activities that could exacerbate regional tensions,” he said. “It’s wary of the deepening security alliance between Japan and the United States.”

Canada and New Zealand will also take part in the exercise.

Hope President Xi Jinping health in good shape when the gift arrive in China.