An MQ-9 Reaper sits on the flight line at Creech Air Force Base, Nev., Dec. 17, 2019. (Haley Stevens/U.S. Air Force)

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — The Marine Corps has deployed MQ-9A Reaper drones to Kadena Air Base to support surveillance training in southern Japan, according to the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing and Okinawa prefecture.

The drones are with Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 3, Marine Aircraft Group 24, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, wing spokesman 1st Lt. Jude Hydrick told Stars and Stripes by email Monday. The systems arrived on the island on Aug. 13.

He did not say how many Reapers were deployed, citing operational security.

“Operating from Japan provides VMU-3 with realistic domain awareness training that will increase proficiency to help provide critical support to Marines, the Joint Force, and our Japanese Allies in support of the defense of Japan,” Hydrick wrote.

The Okinawa Defense Bureau, an arm of Japan’s Defense Ministry, told the prefecture Friday that the U.S. military is planning to temporarily deploy “less than six” Reapers to Kadena, a spokeswoman for the prefecture’s Military Base Affairs Division said by phone Monday.

The drones will fly from Hawaii and deploy for a year to conduct “intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance” activities around the Nansei region, the spokeswoman said. The deployment date is unknown, she said.

The Nansei, or Ryukyu, island chain stretches from Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands, to Taiwan.

The drones will not fly over residential areas and will be parked far from these areas to avoid noise problems, the spokeswoman said.

A C-17 Globemaster III assigned to the 733rd Air Mobility Squadron delivers MQ-9 Reaper systems at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Aug. 13, 2024. (Gabriel Antwiler/U.S. Air Force)

Eight Air Force Reapers and two Navy MQ-4C Triton maritime surveillance drones are already deployed at Kadena, the spokeswoman said. The Tritons will be withdrawn in October as scheduled, she added.

“As the prefecture, we responded that we have been asking to review the deployment of MQ-9s and MQ-4s,” the spokeswoman said. “We are still thinking the same way.”

Some government officials in Japan are required to speak to the media only on condition of anonymity.

Air Force Reapers assigned to the 319th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron remain at Kadena and continue to fly intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions over Japan’s southern island chain in close coordination with Japan’s Ministry of Defense, 18th Wing spokesman 1st Lt. Robert Dabbs said by email Monday. He declined to say how many Reapers are there due to operational security.

The Reaper, made by General Atomics of San Diego, is a medium-altitude, long-endurance, remotely operated aircraft used primarily for surveillance, according to the Air Force. They can carry a combination of Hellfire missiles and Paveway laser-guided bombs.