Japanese missile defense forces conducted drills Monday to “improve [their] capability to deal with ballistic missiles,” marking the fourth such exercise this year and the most recent since North Korea fired a record number of ballistic missiles earlier this month.

According to Japan’s Ministry of Defense, the country’s 12th Fire Unit, 4th Air Defense Missile Group and 6th Base Air Defense Squadron of Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) conducted the “maneuver deployment training” in Fukui Prefecture, the first of their kind on the country’s west coast this year. 

The drills featured U.S.-made Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) surface-to-air missile defense systems,