A Russian surveillance aircraft has entered Japanese airspace several times. The third time, fighter jets drove it away with decoys.
Rebun – A Russian reconnaissance aircraft has violated Japanese airspace several times and had to be chased away by Japanese F-15 and F-35 fighter jets using infrared decoys. According to Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara, the IL-38 aircraft entered his country’s airspace three times over the small island of Rebun, which lies off the northernmost Japanese island prefecture of Hokkaido: first it stayed there for a minute, then 30 seconds and finally another minute.
In response, F-15 and F-35 fighter jets from the Japanese Self-Defense Forces took off. The first two times the Russian aircraft breached the airspace, the Japanese jets warned them by radio, said Kihara. When the IL-38 then entered the airspace a third time, the fighters fired infrared decoys as a warning. They emit heat and light to deflect heat-seeking missiles. Although they are not weapons, it is common practice to use them to deter foreign aircraft. The IL-38 then turned away for good.
Russian aircraft intercepted with decoys in Japanese airspace
Yoshimasa Hayashi, Cabinet Secretary to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, told the New York Times According to the report, the incident occurred between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Monday. “This violation of our airspace is extremely regrettable,” Hayashi told reporters. “We have protested strongly to the Russian government through diplomatic channels and urged them to prevent a recurrence.”
This was the first known violation of Japanese airspace by a Russian aircraft since 2019. The Military Watch Magazine reported that, according to a statement from the Japanese Ministry of Defense, this was “the first time that Japan has used infrared decoys as part of its enforcement measures against airspace violations.”
The IL-38, a surveillance aircraft, will be used by the Military Watch Magazine suspected of having tracked a Japanese submarine during its airspace violations. To do so, it is said to have dropped listening buoys that make it possible to trace the submarine’s movements based on its sound signature.
Political scientist: Moscow and Beijing “want to punish Japan”
Although deterrence by means of decoys is more than Japan has done in such situations so far, the response was “still extremely cautious,” James DJ Brown, professor of political science at Temple University Japan, told the JapanTimes. “The Russian aircraft was allowed two overflights before the decision was made to fire infrared decoys at all.”
The incident occurred shortly after a Chinese aircraft violated the island nation’s airspace for the first time last month, according to the Japanese government. “Both Moscow and Beijing want to punish Japan,” said political scientist Brown, assessing the airspace violations. “Moscow because of Japan’s support for Ukraine. China because Japan is focusing on security in the Taiwan Strait.”
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