Japan's air intercepts of mostly Chinese and Russian military aircraft more than tripled last month as the quasi-allies ramped up springtime maneuvers in the region, according to Japanese Defense Ministry data published on Friday.
Japan's fighter jets were scrambled 70 times in March to head off possible airspace violations, the Joint Staff of Japan's Self-Defense Forces said; 60 times against planes from China, nine times against those from Russia, and once for an unspecified nation, the figures showed.
In February, the Joint Staff reported 21 such scrambles, the lowest number in the past 12 months.
Japan's Air Self-Defense Force patrols the country's extensive archipelagic territory, which spans East and Northeast Asia and borders potential adversaries China, Russia and North Korea.
Newsweek's map shows Japan's declared air-defense identification zone, which overlaps with most of its exclusive economic zone outside of sovereign airspace. The ADIZ covers the Japan-administered Senkaku islets, but not the South Korea-held Liancourt Rocks or the Russia-controlled Kuril islands.
The Joint Staff's data showed nearly 70 percent of scrambles were against foreign military aircraft in Japan's southwestern airspace, where Chinese planes fly regular sorties past Japanese territory as they thread the first island chain into the Pacific Ocean.
Also on Friday, Tokyo's Defense Ministry released updated annual data for the fiscal year 2023—March 31 to April 1—which said its air force scrambled jets 669 times in 12 months, down 109 times from the previous year.
The numbers showed 72 and 26 percent of the intercepts were against Chinese and Russia military planes, respectively, while North Korean, Taiwanese and other aircraft accounted for the remaining 2 percent of the total.
Since 2013, the number of emergency scrambles per year has remained high at around 700, the Joint Staff said, pointing to constant activity by neighboring militaries. Nearly two-thirds of the reported intercepts took place in Japan's southwestern airspace.
The report highlighted notable incidents including Russia and China's joint strategic bomber patrols in December, when Russian Tu-95 and Chinese H-6 nuclear-capable bombers flew together between the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan.
Japan said it was monitoring regular flights by Chinese aircraft through the Miyako Strait, between the Japanese islands of Miyako and Okinawa, where the majority of forward-deployed U.S. troops in the country are stationed.
Tokyo's report also noted increasing activity by Chinese unmanned aerial vehicles. Last month, a Chinese WZ-7 long-range surveillance drone flew its first known sortie in the Sea of Japan, likely flying over friendly airspace in North Korea or Russia.
Foreign military flights tracked this month—counting towards the fiscal year 2024—included a Chinese intelligence-gathering plane's sortie through the Miyako Strait on April 1.
On April 2, Japanese jets were scrambled to intercept two Russian Tu-95MS bombers and two Su-30SM fighter escorts, which flew a nine-hour mission in the Sea of Japan.
The Chinese and Russian Defense Ministries did not immediately respond to separate written requests for comment before publication.
Update 4/19/24, 11:40 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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