The Coast Guards of the US, Japan and the Philippines began a trilateral joint maritime exercise in the waters off Japan's Kyushu Island earlier this week.
The five-day exercise will be the second to be conducted by the three countries' coast guards as well as the first such exercise to be held in Japanese waters.
The previous exercise was held from June 1 to 7, 2023, off Bataan province north of the Philippines' capital city of Manila.
The ongoing exercise will also include capacity-building drills and facility tours. It will end with a search and rescue exercise simulating a vessel collision to be held off the southern coast of Kyushu on Friday, June 20.
The participating vessels in the exercise include the US Coast Guard Legend-class national security cutter USCGC Stratton and the Philippine Coast Guard 97-metre multi-role response vessel BRP Teresa Magbanua.
The trilateral coast guard exercise began shortly after the execution of a maritime cooperative activity between the Philippine Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea.