The ministry said one of the Chinese military's Y-9 intelligence-gathering planes had briefly entered Japanese territory near the Danjo Islands in Nagasaki Prefecture.

The territorial violation by China is the latest in a series of events amplifying tensions between Beijing and Japan.

A Chinese military surveillance plane breached Japanese airspace off the country’s southwestern coast on Monday, marking what Japan’s defense ministry described as the first known incursion by China’s military into its territorial airspace.

According to a ministry official, a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft briefly entered Japanese territory near Nagasaki Prefecture around 11:30 a.m. on Monday. In response, Japan’s Self-Defense Force put fighter jets on high alert and issued a warning to the Chinese aircraft.

While Chinese planes frequently appear in international airspace around Japan, this incident represents the first confirmed entry of a military aircraft into Japan’s territorial airspace.

  • Buelldozer@lemmy.todayEnglish
    9·
    3 months ago

    Reconnaissance aircraft are notoriously difficult to hit

    With exceptions for the United State’s top shelf stealth planes the Japanese are quite capable of shooting down anything flying in earths atmosphere. In the event that Japanese can’t do it the United States Aircraft Carrier Group assigned to Japan absolutely can.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
      17·
      3 months ago

      the Japanese are quite capable of shooting down anything flying in earths atmosphere

      Sure. Just put in a call to the Americans to do it for them.

      Still not clear why anyone is shooting down Chinese cargo planes.

      • Buelldozer@lemmy.todayEnglish
        8·
        2 months ago

        Just put in a call to the Americans to do it for them.

        Japan has its own domestically developed Surface to Air missile system.

        Still not clear why anyone is shooting down Chinese cargo planes.

        The Y-9 has several variants, some of which are ELINT and AWACS. I’d trust the Japanese to know which are which, they see them often enough on their radar screens.

        • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          That said, it would be monumentally stupid to expose an AWACS plane like that. Those things don’t grow on trees, even in China.