CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Super Typhoon Champi is forcing US and Japanese military commanders to scale back or cancel portions of Keen Sword, a major bilateral exercise involving tens of thousands of troops across Japan, Stars and Stripes reported on Wednesday. Exercise commanders are adjusting activities daily as they monitor the typhoon's path, Keen Sword spokesman Maj. Ephesian Poinsette said by email. 'Safety remains our absolute priority,' he wrote, adding that, based on predicted weather and ongoing safety assessments, certain training evolutions were modified, while core training objectives would still be met.

At noon on Wednesday, Champi was about 600 miles southeast of Kadena Air Base, moving west-northwest with maximum sustained winds of about 178 mph and gusts reaching 218 mph, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center figures cited by Stars and Stripes — yaani sustained winds of roughly 287 km/h. Keen Sword began on Monday and runs through October 29, involving about 56,000 US and Japanese personnel along with forces from seven partner nations, including operations with the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and Marine Corps air-defence and anti-ship missile systems. Some training areas lie in the storm's projected path.

A Japan Joint Staff spokesman said on Wednesday that the typhoon had caused 'no major impact' on the overall exercise schedule, although minor adjustments included the cancellation of an unspecified training activity on Okinawa, and further cancellations were possible if the storm directly affected training areas, Stars and Stripes reported. Training on Tanegashima, in Kagoshima prefecture, will continue on a smaller scale. The typhoon has also forced the cancellation of at least two planned port visits by Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels — the destroyer JS Setogiri will no longer visit Ishigaki Island, and the landing craft utility vessel JS Nihonbare has cancelled a scheduled stop at Yonaguni, according to local government spokespeople cited in the report.

Civilian life in southern Japan is also being disrupted. The Japan Meteorological Agency forecast on Wednesday that Champi — Japan's 30th named storm of the year — will reach the Sakishima Islands of Okinawa between Friday and Saturday and then affect parts of Kyushu from the weekend onward, with the centre expected to pass about 160 kilometres from the Okinawa coast on Friday and maximum wind speeds of up to 216 kph in the agency's assessment. Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways announced on Wednesday that a number of flights to and from airports in southern Japan would not run over the next few days, and the 50th Okinawa Industrial Festival, due from Friday to Sunday and expecting hundreds of thousands of visitors, has been called off. Aviation reporting by Simple Flying on Wednesday likewise said the typhoon was expected to bring pre-emptive flight cancellations in southern Japan and that parts of the US-Japan exercise had been modified or scaled down.

Before entering the Philippine Sea, Champi passed about 10 miles south of Guam on Sunday, causing widespread power outages, water disruptions and temporary closures across the US territory, according to Guam's Joint Information Center cited by Stars and Stripes. By Wednesday, electricity had been restored to 99% of Guam's power grid.

Sources: Stars and Stripes via Alo Japan, 'Super Typhoon Champi disrupts Keen Sword drills across southern Japan', 21 October 2026; Japan Meteorological Agency reporting via Alo Japan, 'Japan braces for 30th named storm this year as Typhoon Champi heads for Okinawa', 21 October 2026; Simple Flying, 'Typhoon Champi Threatens Asian Hubs With Flight Cuts: Military Aviation Also Hit', 21 October 2026.