The Ground Self-Defense Force has announced that its Special Operations Group, a special unit that responds to terrorist attacks, has conducted joint training with the Australian military.
It is extremely unusual for the movements of highly secretive special forces to be made public, and this joint exercise shows the development of relations with Australia.
According to the Ground Self-Defense Force, joint training was held in Australia in August this year, and shooting training was conducted.
In two photos released on the 6th, a soldier of the Australian Army "Special Operations Command" holds a gun in a dimly lit building with what appears to be a gas stove and a microwave Members of the "group" are shown.
The Special Operations Group was established 18 years ago in 2004 to deal with domestic terrorist attacks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States. As such, almost nothing has been revealed so far, and this announcement is extremely unusual.
The Ground Self-Defense Force announced that it had coordinated with the Australian side, and that joint training with the Australian Army Special Forces was the sixth since fiscal 2015.
At a press conference on the 6th, Chief of Staff Keihide Yoshida, the head of the Ground Self-Defense Force, said, "The Special Forces are the highest level of training. We are strengthening our relationship with the Australian Army on multiple levels, but among them is the Special Forces. We recognize that exchanges between the two countries are symbolic of the development and deepening of our relationship," he said.