Sep 19 (NHK) - Japan's Air Self-Defense Force says 4 of its F2 fighters conducted a joint drill with US military aircraft over Japan on Monday.
It says 2 B1 bombers from a base on the US Pacific territory of Guam and 4 F35 stealth fighters from the US base in Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan, were on their way to South Korea.
The Japanese fighter jets joined them in airspace over areas around Japan's southwestern region of Kyushu.
A photo released by the Air Self-Defense Force shows the 2 bombers leading a formation flanked by 4 fighter jets on each side.
The drill ended just before the US jets left Japan's Air Defense Identification Zone. The US jets then joined South Korean military aircraft.
The drill came 3 days after North Korea fired another intermediate-range ballistic missile. Similar joint exercises have previously been conducted in response to such missile launches.
