Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force destroyers JS Akebono take part in a joint military drill with U.S. Navy in the East China Sea.

The U.S. Navy has announced on Friday that  Amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) and Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer JS Akebono (DD 108) conducts joint operation in the East China Sea.

America, the flagship of the America Expeditionary Strike Group, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit team, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

The Navy’s newest amphibious assault ship, America was designed from the ground up to include expanded flight operations capability that allows for greater interoperability with the Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II aircraft.

F-35’s mission is to attack and destroy surface targets, intercept and destroy enemy aircraft, provide electronic warfare support, and network enabled reconnaissance support across the full spectrum of combat operations. It has an autonomous capability to strike a broad range of moving or fixed targets, either day or night and in adverse weather conditions. These targets include air and ground threats, as well as enemy surface units at sea and anti-ship or land attack cruise missiles and it can complete the entire kill chain without reliance on external sources by using fused information from its onboard systems and/or other F-35s.