One thousand members of the Self-Defense Forces have been learning how to recapture territory in the face of enemy fire, and while the shoreline may be California’s, the skills they are building could one day be used closer to home.
During the two-week Dawn Blitz joint drills in June, a Maritime Self-Defense Force vessel launched a hovercraft that carried personnel and heavy weaponry onto a beach — an operation observed by American and Japanese officers — and elite rangers practiced a nighttime beach infiltration.
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