(Provisional translation by an external company for reference purpose only)
I have an announcement about the dispatch of Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) aircraft to North America and Europe. ASDF’s F-15 fighters and other aircraft will be dispatched to North America and Europe for a goodwill visit from September 14 for approximately two weeks. Specifically, F-15 fighters as well as the C-2 transport aircraft, the KC-767 aerial refueling and transport aircraft, and the KC-46A aerial refueling and transport aircraft will be dispatched to the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Germany. At the destinations, the aircraft will conduct unit-to-unit exchanges and other operations with the air force of the respective countries. This is the first time that the ASDF’s fighters will be dispatched to Canada and Europe. In recent years, Canada and European countries, including the UK and Germany, have steadily enhanced their engagement in the Indo-Pacific, including regularly sending fighters and vessels to areas around Japan, as is evident from the recent port call of the UK Carrier Strike Group to Japan. Against this backdrop, we consider that Japan’s dispatch of ASDF fighters to North America and Europe will demonstrate our shared recognition that the security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific is inseparable and mutually linked. At the Japan-UK defense ministerial meeting held earlier, UK Secretary of State for Defence Healey and I just confirmed that both sides welcome the deployment of Self-Defense Force (SDF) fighters in Europe. Through such initiatives, the Ministry of Defense and the SDF will further deepen cooperative relations with Japan’s ally and like-minded countries based on the spirit of One Cooperative Effort Among Nations: Perspective for the Indo-Pacific (OCEAN), with a view to realizing a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific.”