Japanese fighter jets used flares to send a clear warning to a Russian reconnaissance aircraft that was trespassing in Northern Japan airspace.
Japan’s Defense Ministry said that a Russian Ilyushin Il-38 aircraft breached its airspace three times on September 23, 2024. It flew above Rebun Island, just off the coast of the country’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido, for up to a minute.
The ministry said Japan scrambled a number of F-15 and F-35 fighter jets, which used flares for the first time after the Russian aircraft ignored initial warnings.
This is the first time Russia has entered Japanese airspace since June 2019, when Russian bombers trespassed near Minami-Daito Island in Okinawa Prefecture and Hachijo Island in Tokyo.
On September 12, 2024, a pair of Tu-142 Russian maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft performed an encirclement flight around Japan from morning until afternoon, but it did not enter Japanese airspace.
Japan’s Defense Minister Minoru Kihara was quoted by CBS News to have said that the airspace violation was “extremely regrettable”, and the use of flares in this instance was a legitimate response. Kihara added that Japan plans to use flares without hesitation.
On September 10, 2024, Russia launched Ocean-24, a massive naval and air exercise that spans the Pacific and Arctic Oceans, the Mediterranean, Caspian and Baltic Seas.
The drills ran until September 16, 2024 and involved 400+ warships, submarines and support vessels, more than 120 planes and helicopters and over 90,000 troops. China is included in the joint maneuver of these exercises.