Japan’s Joint Staff recorded a Chinese Y-9 intelligence-gathering aircraft flying over the East China Sea for five consecutive days from September 3 to September 7, 2026, prompting the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) to scramble fighter jets in response each time, according to official notices.
A notice published on September 7, 2026, detailed the latest flight path, describing a single Y-9 arriving from the Chinese mainland that afternoon. The aircraft flew south of the Danjo Islands in Nagasaki Prefecture, turned southwest, reversed course off Okinawa Island to track northeast, and changed heading again south of the Danjo Islands before returning toward mainland China. Fighters from the Western Air Defense Force responded alongside other units.
Similar flight paths were recorded on the four preceding days. On September 5, 2026, the Y-9 approached from the mainland, turned off Okinawa Island, flew northeast, and changed course off the Danjo Islands before exiting the area. While the Southwestern Air Defense Force handled the scramble on September 5, the Western Air Defense Force managed the responses on the remaining four days. None of the official notices reported any incursion into Japanese territorial airspace.
A separate notice issued on September 7, 2026, documented a Russian Il-20 intelligence-gathering aircraft flying from the mainland through the Sea of Okhotsk into the Pacific on September 5, 2026. The Russian aircraft traveled south to waters off Miyagi Prefecture before reversing direction and returning to the Sea of Japan via the Sea of Okhotsk, triggering a scramble by Northern Air Defense Force fighters. Official figures for fiscal year 2025, which ended March 31, 2026, show JASDF executed 595 scrambles in total, with approximately 61% directed against Chinese aircraft.
