Japanese fighter jets fire warning flares at Russian aircraft

For the first time in 60 years, Japanese fighter jets fired warning flares at a Russian reconnaissance aircraft that violated Japanese airspace, reports The Wall Street Journal. On Monday, the Russian Ilyushin Il-38 reconnaissance aircraft violated it three times.

The salvo was fired during the third airspace violation by the Il-38, at approximately 2:42 AM Eastern Time. "This is the first time Tokyo has taken such an aggressive stance against violations of its airspace, which are mainly committed by Moscow," writes the newspaper.

According to Japanese Defence Minister Minoru Kihara, this measure was taken after multiple warnings were directed at the “opponent.” He also emphasized that "the aircraft was not performing any potentially dangerous manoeuvres."

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, this is the first situation in 60 years where Japanese fighter jets fired warning flares at a Russian reconnaissance aircraft.

On Monday, September 23, the Il-38 entered Japanese airspace three times, between 12 AM and 3 AM Eastern Time, and flew over waters near the volcanic Rebun Island, located near Hokkaido. The Russian authorities faced an "extremely resolute protest" from the Japanese side regarding this issue.

According to WSJ, since the times of the USSR, Russian and Soviet military planes have most frequently violated Japanese airspace. They were responsible for 44 out of 48 such incidents. Other cases involve violations of Japanese airspace by Taiwanese and Chinese aircraft.