May 30, 2003
Japan lands in Alaska
This is good to see.
Japanese Air Self-Defense Force F-15 fighter aircraft made a bit of history in Alaska on Tuesday. Six of them landed on North American soil for the first time at Elmendorf Air Force Base, where they will take part in Cooperative Cope Thunder, a Pacific Air Forces-sponsored air combat training exercise set for June 5-20.Posted by Alan at May 30, 2003 08:07 PM“The Japanese involvement is very significant ... of all the foreign participants, they bring the biggest contingent of people and different missions to this exercise,” Lt. Col. David Ennis, commander of Elemendorf’s Detachment 1, 353rd Combat Training Squadron, said in an Air Force news release.
Japan will participate with U.S. forces in defensive exercises but not in the “offensive counter air” missions other nations will practice during Cope Thunder, Ennis said.