Japan: Fighters fire flares after Russian military plane enters airspace

Source: Japan Times [Japan]

“Japan scrambled fighter jets Monday after a Russian surveillance plane entered Japanese airspace three times, the Defense Ministry said, with Air Self-Defense Force fighters deploying flares for the first time since Tokyo began enforcing measures against such incursions. Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said a Russian IL-38 patrol aircraft had violated Japanese airspace off Hokkaido’s Rebun island three times, for periods of 1 minute, 30 seconds and 1 minute, on Monday afternoon. … The airspace incursion was the first publicly announced entry into Japanese airspace by a Russian military aircraft since 2019, Kihara said, and followed an incursion by a Chinese military spy plane off Nagasaki Prefecture late last month.” (09/23/24)

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/09/23/japan/japan-russia-military-aircraft-incursion/