Japan and India began their first joint fighter jet drill, Veer Guardian 2023, near Tokyo on Monday to deepen their defence cooperation in the face of China’s growing military presence in the Indo-Pacific region.
Veer Guardian 2023
Japan’s Kyodo News cited the country’s defence ministry saying that four F-2 and four F-15 fighters from the Japanese Air Self-Defence Force (SDF) are participating in the 11-day “air combat training” that will end on January 26.
From the Indian side, 150 personnel, four Su-30MKI fighters, two C-17 transport aircraft, and an IL-78 aerial refuelling tanker are participating in the training, which is being conducted around the Hyakuri Air Base in Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo.
The exercise was agreed between the two sides’ foreign and defence ministers at their inaugural 2+2 security meeting in New Delhi in November 2019. However, it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
India is the fifth country to hold such a bilateral exercise with Japan after the US, Australia, the UK, and Germany.
Both sides addressed the Press on the importance of the exercise and training drills aimed at enhancing interperability between the forces, and on the growing bilateral defence cooperation
— India in Japanインド大使館 (@IndianEmbTokyo) January 10, 2023
2/2
Nevertheless, Japan’s ground and maritime SDF have already conducted such drills with their Indian counterparts.
China Threat
Owing to friction with China, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida ordered his cabinet to increase the country’s defence spending to 2% of the GDP in the next five years, up from its longstanding current level of around 1%.
Japan is also considering deploying more than 1,000 long-range cruise missiles from Kyushu to the Nansei island chain to narrow the “cavernous missile gap” with China.
Meanwhile, Indian and Chinese troops clashed along the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh last month, leaving several injured on both sides.
Indian media reports claimed that 20 Indian soldiers and “a much higher number on the Chinese side” sustained minor injuries. Reportedly, around 300 PLA soldiers were involved in the face-off.
This marked their first such confrontation since 2020.
However, it has since been reported that India has been covering up the frequency and extent of its border clashes with China along the LAC to prevent the public from panicking.