A senior Japanese official said this was the first time flares had been used against an airspace intruder.
Japan has confirmed that a Russian patrol aircraft violated its airspace three times, prompting the Japan Air Self-Defense Force fighter jets to fire flares for the first time.
A Russian IL-38 patrol aircraft flew over Japan’s territorial waters near Rebun Island, off the northernmost of Hokkaido, between 1 p.m. and 3:43 p.m. local time on Monday, according to the Japanese defense ministry.
The first incursion occurred between 1:03 p.m. and 1:04 p.m. local time, followed by the second at around 3:31 p.m., and the third from 3:42 p.m. to 3.43 p.m. Japan responded by scrambling fighter jets.
Japan’s F-15 and F-35 fighter jets fired flares after the Russian aircraft ignored their warnings to leave the airspace, the ministry said, without specifying the number of jets deployed.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said this was the first time flares had been used against an airspace intruder. Flares serve as a warning for intruding aircraft to leave the airspace after repeated radio warnings have been issued.
“The violation of our nation’s airspace by a Russian military patrol plane is extremely regrettable,” Hayashi told reporters on Monday, while urging Russia to prevent such violations from recurring.
Hayashi said Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had urged the government to cooperate with the United States and other allied nations.
Japan has reportedly lodged a protest with Russia over the incident, according to local media Kyodo News.
The incident occurred a day after eight Chinese and Russian vessels were spotted sailing northeast in waters 186 miles west of Okushiri Island, according to a Sept. 23 statement by the Japan Joint Staff.
Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara told reporters on Tuesday that the vessels headed eastward through the Soya Strait between Hokkaido and Sakhalin to enter the Sea of Okhotsk.
“We have a strong sense of crisis over these kinds of cases that have occurred successively in such a short period in waters and airspace surrounding our nation,” Kihara said.
China’s defense ministry announced on Sept. 9 that it will conduct a joint military drill with Russian naval and air forces “in the relevant sea and air areas of the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk” this month.
Beijing stated that the exercise aims to improve strategic military collaboration with Russia and “enhance their ability to jointly respond to security threats.”
Japan has expressed concerns about the increasing military cooperation between the Chinese and Russian air forces. In April, Kihara said that Japan’s military scrambled fighter jets 669 times last year, with 479 of those instances against Chinese aircraft and 174 against Russian aircraft.
Chinese and Russian bombers carried out long-distance joint flights in Japan’s periphery twice last year, he said. In August 2023, Japan scrambled a fighter jet after spotting a Chinese drone flying over its westernmost Yonaguni Island and Taiwan.
In an April statement, Kihara said his ministry will continue to monitor the country’s airspace “vigilantly and rigorously” and implement measures against any airspace intrusions.