US-Japan drill puts missiles near Taiwan with 56,000 troops

Japan and the US deployed missile systems near Taiwan over the past 48 hours during Keen Sword 27, involving 45,000 Japanese and 11,000 US troops, a secondary news report said.

The 56,000-troop exercise matters in Washington because it places missile units on Japan's southwestern islands, compared with allied planning that has long emphasized dispersed operations across the First Island Chain.

Keen Sword

The drill includes amphibious operations, air defense and allied coordination, according to the report. It also tests how quickly US and Japanese forces can move weapons across outposts near Taiwan, where geography would shape any crisis involving China.

For the Pentagon, the exercise fits the Marine Corps' push to use smaller, mobile units in contested maritime chokepoints. The 12th Marine Littoral Regiment was redesigned for that role, including mobile anti-ship missile operations inside range of key sea lanes.

Japan's role is changing as well. Tokyo revised its National Security Strategy to acquire counterstrike capabilities, turning islands such as Yonaguni and Ishigaki from quiet civilian outposts into potential deterrence nodes.

That is the central test for US Indo-Pacific

The report did not say whether any missile systems will remain after the exercise. That is the central test for US Indo-Pacific Command: a temporary drill shows mobility, while recurring rotations or pre-positioned ammunition would show a more durable posture.

Congress will watch whether the Pentagon and Japan's Ministry of Defense move from exercises to permanent arrangements. If bilateral statements or defense legislation codify rotational staging on islands within 100 miles of Taiwan, Washington's forward posture would become harder to unwind; if Tokyo pulls back after local opposition, the missile units would likely return to larger hubs in Kyushu or Okinawa.