Follow-Up: Exercise Keen Sword 27 Concludes With Some 56,000 Troops, 260 Aircraft and 40 Ships
Japan — Exercise Keen Sword 27, the U.S.-Japan bilateral field training exercise, concluded on October 29. The exercise began on October 19 and ran for 11 days across Japan and its surrounding waters and airspace, with the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) carrier strike group taking part.
According to U.S. Pacific Fleet figures, roughly 56,000 personnel participated, including about 45,000 members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and some 11,000 U.S. service members, alongside forces from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the Philippines, with observers from South Korea and the United Kingdom. About 260 aircraft and 40 ships took part. The Roosevelt strike group comprises the carrier, Carrier Air Wing 11, the guided-missile cruiser USS Chosin (CG-65) and the destroyers USS Paul Hamilton (DDG-60) and USS Decatur (DDG-73).
During the exercise, U.S. and Japanese forces conducted force-on-force training at the Hijudai Maneuver Area in Kyushu, maritime operations and bilateral convoy operations in Okinawa, and a series of cross-deck exchanges: sailors from Canada's HMCS Regina and Australia's HMAS Stuart visited the Roosevelt. The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force also publicly deployed its new Type 25 surface-to-ship missile in a field exercise for the first time.
Keen Sword is a routine, biennial bilateral exercise designed to increase readiness and interoperability between the U.S. military and the Japan Self-Defense Forces and to strengthen the U.S.-Japan alliance. GSM previously reported the exercise's October 19 launch and the disruption caused by Super Typhoon Champi.
Source: U.S. Navy
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：10月21日，「利剑27」演习期间，美国海军与日本海上自卫队飞机在菲律宾海上空协同飞行。美国海军PO2 Aaron Haro Gonzalez摄，公共领域，经DVIDS。 / Photo: U.S. Navy and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force aircraft operate together over the Philippine Sea during Exercise Keen Sword 27, October 21, 2026. U.S. Navy photo by PO2 Aaron Haro Gonzalez, public domain, via DVIDS.
