Nyutabaru ready for exercise Pégase
Today, 26 July 2023, saw the arrival of the first aircraft of the Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace (AAE, French Air and Space Force) contingent at Nyutabaru Air Base (Japan), for the French-Japan joint fighter drill Pégase.
Airbus A400M 0073/F-RBAN was the leader of a total of four French aircraft joining the exercise. Two Dassault Rafale fighters (344/4-FK and 357/4-FX) landed the same day. The A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft, serial 045/F-UJCK, arrived the next day.
Pictures on twitter showed two 305 Hikotai F-15J Eagles with special tail colours, departing Nyuatabaru to join up with the Rafales. The joint drill is for four days only, and expected to run upto 29 July.
The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) is participating with three F-15s, two F-2s, one KC-767 tanker and one C-2 transport aircraft.
Also on 26 July, four 6 Hikotai F-2s arrived at Nyuta, probably for the exercise. The exercise is part of the Pégase 2023 mission, a long-range, transcontinental power-projection exercise that French military is conducting from 25 June to 3 August.
This mission involves tens of aircraft deploying from France to the Indo-Pacific region, including Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Qatar, and Djibouti, as well as French New Caledonia, and Polynesia, and others, according to the French Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Embassy of France in Japan.
Photos by Castle21 (Twitter @Castle21NA) and Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace