As soon as a Russian military plane enters Japanese airspace, fighter jets launch flares. The Defense Ministry said that Japan launched fighter jets on Monday in response to a Russian surveillance plane that had entered Japanese airspace three times. For the first time since Tokyo started enforcing measures against such incursions, fighters from the Air Self-Defense Force dropped flares.
A Russian IL-38 patrol aircraft breached Japanese airspace off Rebun Island in Hokkaido three times on Monday afternoon, for durations of one minute, thirty seconds, and one minute, according to Defense Minister Minoru Kihara.
At a hastily convened news conference at the ministry, Kihara stated, “This violation of our airspace is extremely regrettable, and today we have lodged a stern protest with the Russian government via diplomatic channels, while also strongly requesting that they prevent a recurrence.”
The airspace incursion followed an earlier entry by a Chinese military spy plane off the coast of Nagasaki Prefecture late last month, according to Kihara. It was the first time a Russian military aircraft had entered Japanese airspace since 2019. Japan deemed the flight a threat to national security and deemed that action to be “utterly unacceptable.”
Kihara responded to the events of Monday by saying that ASDF F-15 and F-35 fighter jets had warned via radio, detonating the flares on the Russian aircraft’s third incursion, calling it “one measure we can take in the event of a violation of our airspace.”
Although flares are typically used to scare off other aircraft, they are also fired with the intention of confusing heat-seeking missiles. Although Kihara did not provide any more information regarding the encounters, she did state that the Russian aircraft had not approached the ASDF fighters in a threatening manner.
Nonetheless, the head of defense suggested that the incursions might have something to do with joint Russian-Chinese military drills in the region.
