A major U.S. Navy-led drill involving 26 countries but without China has begun off Hawaii, Japanese officials said Friday, amid lingering tensions between Washington and Beijing over the South China Sea.

The Rim of the Pacific exercise, also known as RIMPAC, will run through Aug. 2, during which Japan and the United States will conduct their first joint ground-to-ship battle training.

In the training in July, on the assumption that a hulk floating about 100 kilometers from Kauai Island is an enemy ship, Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force patrol aircraft will collect information, while the Ground Self-Defense Force will fire surface-to-ship missiles and the U.S. Army launch rocket attacks, according to the officials.

Japan's MSDF and GSDF have participated in the drill since 1980 and 2014, respectively. RIMPAC, which started in 1971, is now regarded as the world's biggest multinational naval exercise.

In May, the Pentagon rescinded an invitation to China to participate in the latest biennial drill, citing Beijing's rapid militarization of the South China Sea, where it has overlapping territorial claims with smaller Asian countries.

China took part in RIMPAC for the first time in 2014 and again in 2016.

(Vice Adm. John Alexander, commander of the U.S. 3rd Fleet)