US joins Japan, S. Korea, Australia for 1st combined naval drills in W. Pacific

US Navy ships conducted joint drills with warships from allies Japan, Australia and South Korea in their first combined exercise in the Western Pacific.

The Pacific Vanguard exercise near the US island of Guam takes place ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to Japan this weekend.

The drills “joins forces from four, like-minded maritime nations that provide security throughout the Indo-Pacific,” Vice Admiral Phillip Sawyer, commander of the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet, said on Thursday.

The six-day exercise involves two Japanese destroyers, two Australian frigates and a destroyer from South Korea, with as many as 3,000 sailors participating, Reuters reports.