KEEN SWORD battle group composed of Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) and U.S. Navy (USN) ships steams in formation off the southern coast of Japan. Photo by JO2 Thomas Peterson, USN

The U.S. commitment to defend Japan is governed by the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security that came into force in 1960. Under the treaty, Japan hosts the presence of U.S. forces that can assist in Japan’s defense and contribute to stability in the East Asia area. These forces include a U.S. Navy carrier battle group, the III Marine Expeditionary Force, 5th Air Force, and elements of the U.S. Army’s I Corps. In September 1997, Japan and the U.S. approved new guidelines that enhanced U.S.-Japan defense cooperation. These guidelines facilitate greater cooperation in areas such as logistical support and search and rescue operations following disasters.

The defense of Japan was the focus of Exercise KEEN SWORD 2003, the seventh joint/bilateral field training exercise since 1986. The goal of the exercise was to increase combat readiness and interoperability between U.S. and Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) to respond to a situation in areas surrounding Japan or to defend Japan against a regional threat. Exercise objectives included more realistic joint and bilateral training scenarios, using military operations other than war (MOOTW) in the field exercises, non-combatant evacuation operations (NEO), air and ground operations, and search and rescue events.

Gen. Motoaki Watanabe, Director General, Joint Staff Office, Japan Defense Agency, and Lt Gen. Thomas Waskow, Commander U.S Forces Japan (USFJ), listen to a briefing on U.S. Marine Corps’ operations in Exercise KEEN SWORD. Photo by SSgt. Jeremy T. Lock, USAF

Exercise events took place at U.S. and Japanese military installations throughout Japan in November 2002. About 8,500 JSDF and 11,600 U.S. personnel, which includes U.S. naval personnel afloat, trained and evaluated wartime functions and bilateral cooperation procedures in a regional contingency scenario that would have had immediate consequences for Japan and the United States.

KEEN SWORD planning began 18 months ago when planners from all service components met at Yokota Air Base, headquarters of U.S. Forces Japan (USFJ). The JSDF’s Joint Staff Office (JSO) and USFJ initiated the exercise under the name KEEN SWORD. Exercise planners formulated joint/bilateral training plans, incorporating each service component’s mission essential tasks. The exercise framework allowed all service components to interact with each other during the execution of KEEN SWORD.

For example, the U.S. Marines needed the U.S. Air Force (USAF) and Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) to execute the NEO; the U.S. Army and the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) assisted the U.S. Marines in executing training events; and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) and the U.S. Coast Guard along with elements of the USAF executed search and rescue operations. On the western side of Japan and in the Sea of Japan, the JMSDF and the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet conducted air and sea training that tested the ability of JMSDF elements and the U.S. Seventh Fleet to conduct coordinated bilateral operations in the Sea of Japan.

Historical exercise names associated with the service-centered exercises – ORIENT SHIELD (Army ground), FOREST LIGHT (Marine ground), COPE NORTH (air), and ANNUALEX (naval) – were encompassed in the exercise name KEEN SWORD.

The exercise had two phases. Phase one involved training in NEO and search and rescue. Phase two involved force on force events and anti-terrorism training that continued into MOOTW involving a USFJ-JSDF search and rescue event. The sections that follow describe the ground, air, and naval exercises.