The Japanese Defense Ministry reported today Monday that a Chinese military intelligence plane briefly violated its national airspace, marking the first such violation in the archipelago by an aircraft from the neighboring country.
The artifact, an airplane Y9entered Japanese airspace off the coast of the Danjo Islands, a small uninhabited archipelago off the coast of Nagasaki Prefecture in the southwest of the country.
The device remained in the Japanese airspace for two minutesbetween 11:29 and 11:31 local time (2:29-2:31 GMT), before abandoning it, as the Ministry of Defense explained in a press release.
In response to the intrusion, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force responded with fast take-off maneuvers (jamming) “and issue notifications and warnings,” according to the text.
The statement is accompanied by a photo of the Y9 during the intrusion of the Air Self-Defense Forces.
The Y9 is a military transport and intelligence gathering aircraft used by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
Over the past decade, Chinese intrusions into Japanese air defense identification zones (ADIZs) have increased as China’s military assertiveness in the region has grown.
Today, however, marks the first Chinese intrusion into Japanese airspace, which, unlike the ADIZ – whose limits are not set in any treaty – begins 12 nautical miles from the coast.
