Members of Battalion Landing Team 2/4, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, and Japan Ground Self-Defense Force soldiers take part in a mock boat raid during an Iron Fist drill at Kin Blue Training Area, Okinawa, March 1, 2025. (Angel Diaz Montes De Oca/U.S. Marine Corps)

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — U.S. and Japanese forces will team up again next month for an expanded version of annual exercises around Japan, especially in the island chain that includes Okinawa.

Iron Fist, scheduled Feb. 11 through March 9, hones the allies’ ability to make amphibious landings together and defend the island territories just east of Taiwan.

The 20th iteration of Iron Fist will take place throughout Japan, including 19 spots — three more than last year — in the Nansei Islands, according to a Jan. 20 news release from the Okinawa Defense Bureau. Also know as Ryukyu, the island chain stretches southwest from Kyushu toward Taiwan.

Exercises are planned on Okinawa at Marine Corps Camp Hansen’s central training area and Kin Blue and Red beaches, according to the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force.

About 800 U.S. Marines and 2,100 U.S. Navy sailors will participate alongside about 2,000 members of the Japan Ground and Maritime Self-Defense Forces, a Japan Ground Staff spokesman said by phone Thursday.

Iron Fist will involve increased training “in wild areas of the Nansei region,” with the Ground Self-Defense Force’s 3rd Amphibious Rapid Deployment Regiment participating for the first time, the spokesman said.

The exercise is meant to “develop and demonstrate U.S.–Japanese bilateral amphibious capabilities,” Maj. Edward Pingel, spokesman for the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, said in an email Thursday.

Japan and the United States have promised to expand joint training in the islands.

“As neighboring countries and others expand and intensify their activities in the seas and airspace surrounding Japan, improving our deterrence and response capabilities in the Nansei region is an urgent issue,” Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told reporters during his first visit to Okinawa on Jan. 7.

China’s activity around Taiwan has spurred increased attention to island defense. Chinese President Xi Jinping has promised to unify self-governing Taiwan with the mainland, by force if necessary. Last month, Beijing carried out another military exercise that encircled the island and included missile launches.

This year’s Iron First is slated to include a handful of firsts. Two Japanese V-22 Ospreys will operate for the first time out of Hansen and Kin Blue Beach alongside Marine Corps tiltrotors, according to the ground staff spokesman.

Japan’s ScanEagle 2 reconnaissance drone will also participate for the first time, with flights over Tanegashima, an island about 25 miles south of Kyushu, he said.

Some Japanese government officials must speak to the press on condition of anonymity.

Iron Fist is in its fourth consecutive year in Japan; it was staged off the California coast from 2006 through 2022.

The field exercise is scheduled to follow Keen Edge, command-post training by the U.S., Japan and Australia running from Thursday through Feb. 5. It was last held in February 2024.

Keen Edge will “ensure our ability to effectively and mutually respond to a regional crisis situation that might have direct and immediate impact on both countries,” U.S. Indo-Pacific Command told Stars and Stripes in an unsigned email Friday. The command declined to identify which U.S. services or how many troops will participate.

Joint coordination centers will be established at Camps Foster and Kinser on Okinawa and at Japanese bases Camp Asaka in Tokyo, Camp Kengun and Camp Kita-Kumamoto in Kyushu, according to a Jan. 20 release from the Okinawa Defense Bureau.

Stars and Stripes reporter Hana Kusumoto contributed to this report.