On Sunday, October 20th, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) dispatched a bomber and a reconnaissance aircraft to fly over the airspace near the southwestern islands of Japan to carry out a long-range mission. In response, the Japanese military scrambled fighter jets to intercept.
The Japanese Ministry of Defense’s Joint Staff Office released a statement detailing the activities of the CCP aircraft in Japan’s Air Defense Identification Zone. The statement disclosed that a CCP Y-9 reconnaissance aircraft and an H-6 bomber took off from the East China Sea, flew over the airspace between Okinawa and Miyako islands before circling over the Pacific Ocean, and then turned back.
According to the statement, fighter jets from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force’s Southwest Air Defense Force were scrambled for emergency interception.
The Miyako Strait is located between Japan’s Miyako Island and Okinawa Island, forming part of the First Island Chain. The First Island Chain is a U.S. defense concept extending from Japan to Taiwan and the southern Philippines, serving as the first maritime defense line against the CCP in the western Pacific.
Based on flight track maps released by the Japanese Ministry of Defense, the circling position was approximately outside of Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone.
The Japanese military stated that the two CCP aircraft flew south of Saki Island in Japan towards the Philippine Sea. The aircraft then passed through the same strait back to the East China Sea and returned to mainland China.
The Japanese Ministry of Defense’s statement indicated that the aircraft that violated Japanese airspace was a CCP H-6 bomber. According to a report by “News Weekly,” a Chinese military observer claimed that this bomber was an H-6J, referred to by the Pentagon as a maritime strike bomber, which is a naval version of the CCP Air Force’s H-6K model.
In a report released by the Pentagon in October last year, the bomber was reported to be equipped with advanced aviation electronic equipment and upgraded engines.
Long-range bombers are part of the CCP’s efforts to develop anti-access/area denial capabilities.
This is not the first time the CCP has sent similar bombers and reconnaissance aircraft to fly over the waters near the southwestern islands of Japan. On March 12th, the CCP previously dispatched military aircraft to harass Japan.
According to a report by the Joint Staff Office of Japan, from April 1st to September 30th, the Japanese Air Force scrambled fighter jets on emergency missions 358 times to respond to foreign military aircraft approaching Japan.
Out of these emergency scrambles, 241 were in response to CCP aircraft, showing a decrease from 304 during the same period last year. However, emergency scrambles against Russian aircraft increased to 115 times, up from 110 times last year.