Japanese fighter jet launches signal flare for first time due to Russia's actions: What happened
Illustrative photo: Russian Il-38 violated Japan's airspace (wikipedia.org)
A Russian military aircraft violated Japan's airspace three times today, September 23. As a result, a Japanese fighter jet fired a warning missile for the first time in history, Kyodo News reports.
According to the source, the Japanese Ministry of Defense reported that a Russian patrol aircraft, the Il-38, flew over the waters of the Sea of Japan three times north of Rebun Island in the northern Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido between 1:00 PM and 4:00 PM.
Photo: Russian aircraft that violated Japan's airspace (mod.go.jp)
In turn, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi stated that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has instructed officials to respond "firmly and calmly" to the airspace violations in cooperation with the United States and other countries.
"The violation of our nation's airspace by a Russian military patrol plane is extremely regrettable," Hayashi added.
According to him, the Japanese government has strongly urged Russia to refrain from repeating such provocations.
Kyodo News notes that signal flares are used to warn of intrusions and are designed to disrupt the operation of the enemy's infrared homing missiles.
What preceded
It is worth noting that Japan actively supports Ukraine in its war against Russia.
In particular, in May, the country imposed sanctions on Russian legal entities that facilitate the transfer of North Korean weapons to Russia.
Additionally, Russia has repeatedly violated the airspace of European countries. Notably, on June 14, it was reported that four Russian fighter jets violated Finnish airspace within a day.
