Japan’s defence ministry said its fighter jets used flares for the first time to warn a Russian reconnaissance plane to leave its airspace, as tensions rise over increased military cooperation between Russia and China in the region.
Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said an unknown number of F-15 and F-35 warplanes were scrambled and fired flares on Monday after a Russian II-38 maritime patrol plane apparently ignored their radio warnings.
It was also the first reported incursion of airspace by a Russian aircraft since June 2019, when a Tupolev 95 bomber entered Japanese airspace south of Okinawa and around the Izu Islands south of Tokyo, Kihara said.
He said the Russian plane violated Japanese airspace over Rebun Island, off the coast of the country’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido, three times during its five-hour flight in the area.
“The violation of airspace is extremely regrettable and today we have lodged a very serious protest with the Russian government through diplomatic channels and strongly urged them to prevent a recurrence of this,” Kihara added.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had asked government officials to respond “firmly and calmly” to the incident and work with the United States and other countries.
“We will refrain from giving any definitive information about the intent and purpose of this action, but the Russian military has been active in our country’s vicinity since the invasion of Ukraine,” Hayashi added.
Kihara said the use of flares was a legitimate response to the airspace violation and “we plan to use it without hesitation.”
The operation came a day after a joint fleet of Chinese and Russian warships sailed around Japan’s northern coast. Kihara said the airspace violation may have been linked to joint military drills announced by Russia and China earlier this month.
Japanese defense officials are concerned about growing military cooperation between China and Russia, and China’s increasing activity around Japanese waters and airspace. This has prompted Tokyo to significantly bolster its defenses in southwestern Japan, including remote islands that are key to Japan’s defense strategy in the region.
Earlier in September, Russian military aircraft flew over Japan’s southern airspace. In late August, a Chinese Y-9 reconnaissance aircraft briefly violated Japan’s southern airspace.
The Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning, accompanied by two destroyers, sailed between Japan’s westernmost Yonaguni Island and nearby Iriomote Island, entering close to Japanese waters.
Japan’s air defense force said it scrambled its aircraft 669 times between April 2023 and March 2024, about 70% of the time against Chinese military aircraft, although that number did not include airspace violations.
Japan and Russia are in a territorial dispute over the Northern Territories, a group of Russian-controlled islands that the former Soviet Union seized from Japan at the end of World War II. The dispute has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty that would formally end hostilities.
Bilateral tensions have also escalated over Japan’s support for Ukraine. Tokyo has offered Kyiv financial and material support and imposed sanctions on Russian individuals and organizations.
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