U.S. Marines with 5th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, III Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group, based in Okinawa, Japan, and 6th ANGLICO, Force Headquarters, Marine Forces Reserve based out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA, deployed to neighboring islands along Okinawa in support of Katana Strike 24.

The Marines and Sailors from 5th & 6th ANGLICO trained with the joint force to enhance their maritime sensing capabilities to close and validate kill chains and kill webs. These capabilities increase resiliency and interoperability in distributed nodes, forming dynamic networks across land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace domains. Additionally, 5th ANGLICO’s small unmanned aerial systems team further enabled the training evolution by providing multi-sensor capabilities which reinforced 5th ANGLICO’s ability to conduct maritime sensing and provide targeting data to higher headquarters for rapid decision making in a dynamic environment.

“This iteration of Katana Strike trained our detachments to confront real and complex challenges.” said LtCol. Matthew R. Ashton, the Commanding Officer of 5th ANGLICO. “Realistic and innovative training across multiple domains and platforms ensures we can quickly respond to crisis and support our Allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific.”

The exercise integrated 4th and 5th generation platforms such as U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II, U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons and F-22 Raptors, and U.S. Navy P-8A based out of multiple locations in Japan. The joint, high-fidelity training further validated 5th ANGLICO’s ability to communicate and coordinate fires across the joint force and operate in a communications-degraded environment.

5th ANGLICO's forward presence in the Western Pacific and liaison capabilities facilitate the coordination and employment of multi-domain fires and effects to support joint and multinational forces across the full spectrum of military operations.

U.S. Marines with 5th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, III Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group, based in Okinawa, Japan, and 6th ANGLICO, Force Headquarters, Marine Forces Reserve based out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA, deployed to neighboring islands along Okinawa in support of Katana Strike 24.

The Marines and Sailors from 5th & 6th ANGLICO trained with the joint force to enhance their maritime sensing capabilities to close and validate kill chains and kill webs. These capabilities increase resiliency and interoperability in distributed nodes, forming dynamic networks across land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace domains. Additionally, 5th ANGLICO’s small unmanned aerial systems team further enabled the training evolution by providing multi-sensor capabilities which reinforced 5th ANGLICO’s ability to conduct maritime sensing and provide targeting data to higher headquarters for rapid decision making in a dynamic environment.

“This iteration of Katana Strike trained our detachments to confront real and complex challenges.” said LtCol. Matthew R. Ashton, the Commanding Officer of 5th ANGLICO. “Realistic and innovative training across multiple domains and platforms ensures we can quickly respond to crisis and support our Allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific.”

The exercise integrated 4th and 5th generation platforms such as U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II, U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons and F-22 Raptors, and U.S. Navy P-8A based out of multiple locations in Japan. The joint, high-fidelity training further validated 5th ANGLICO’s ability to communicate and coordinate fires across the joint force and operate in a communications-degraded environment.

5th ANGLICO's forward presence in the Western Pacific and liaison capabilities facilitate the coordination and employment of multi-domain fires and effects to support joint and multinational forces across the full spectrum of military operations.