The Self-Defense Forces will for the first time dispatch a Type 16 mobile combat vehicle to Yonaguni Island in Okinawa Prefecture, the country's westernmost island, Defense Ministry sources have said.
The MCV will be deployed for Keen Sword, a Japan-U.S. joint exercise that is the largest of its kind and set to be held in the Nansei Islands and other areas from Thursday.
MCVs are equipped with powerful guns and are capable of traveling at speeds of around 100 kph. They can also be transported by Air Self-Defense Force transport aircraft. The dispatch is aimed at strengthening defense in the southwestern region.
According to the ministry's Joint Staff Office, the MCV will be loaded onto a C-2 transport aircraft at Tsuiki Air Base in Fukuoka Prefecture on Nov. 17 and transported to Yonaguni Airport as part of a training exercise to quickly concentrate forces on the Nansei Islands. The vehicle will travel on public roads from the airport to Camp Yonaguni on Yonaguni Island.
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