Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force scrambled fighter aircraft 442 times between April 1 and September 30, 2026, according to a recently released scramble report from the Japan Joint Staff Office. This marks the first half of fiscal year 2026 and represents a significant increase from the 265 scrambles recorded during the same period in fiscal year 2025. Overall, fiscal year 2025 saw 595 scrambles. Of the 442 scrambles in the current fiscal year, 65 percent — or 285 — were in response to Chinese aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles, while Russian aircraft accounted for 34 percent, or 152 incidents. The remaining one percent involved five scrambles categorized as “Other.” In fiscal year 2025, Chinese and Russian aircraft triggered 198 and 59 scrambles respectively, with eight classified as “Other.”

Documented activities include flights by Russian Ilyushin IL-20 electronic intelligence aircraft over the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean, five consecutive days of Chinese Y-9 ELINT aircraft operations over the East China Sea in September, and extended joint flights involving Chinese H-6 bombers and Russian Tu-95 bombers. The flight paths of Chinese aircraft are marked in red and Russian aircraft in yellow on a map covering April 1 to September 30, 2026. Japan’s Joint Staff Office notes that JASDF fighters are routinely deployed to respond to aircraft entering Japan’s Air Defense Identification Zone, an area that extends beyond the 12-nautical-mile territorial limit and is not recognized internationally.

The majority of Chinese flights occurred over the East China Sea southwest of Japan, while Russian flights were concentrated over the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean near Hokkaido and northern Honshu. The Southwestern Air Defense Command recorded the highest number of scrambles — 201 — compared to 189 in fiscal year 2025. This region typically experiences the highest volume of Chinese activity due to surveillance of Japan and transit of Chinese UAVs en route to reconnaissance missions near Taiwan. Japanese naval vessels, including aircraft carriers from the People’s Liberation Army Navy, regularly operate in the East China Sea and Philippine Sea, often prompting JASDF responses. In December 2025, aircraft from the PLA Navy carrier CNS Liaoning conducted radar weapons locks on JASDF fighters, though no carrier operations were reported in Japan’s southwest region during the first six months of fiscal year 2026.

Joint bomber flights between Russia and China were observed on June 27, 2026, when two H-6 bombers and two J-16 fighters moved from the East China Sea into the Sea of Japan, where they joined two Russian Tu-95 bombers, two Tu-142 maritime patrol aircraft, and one Su-35 fighter for a coordinated flight into the East China Sea. The formation later split, with bombers and patrol aircraft proceeding to the Philippine Sea and conducting a joint flight over the Pacific Ocean south of Shikoku Island before returning to the East China Sea. A separate joint flight on July 21, 2026, involved a Russian Tu-95 bomber and a Su-35 fighter flying over the Sea of Japan. Japan’s Ministry of Defense described such repeated joint activities as demonstration actions intended as strategic signaling against Japan, expressing concern over their implications for national security.

The Northern Air Defense Command conducted 112 scrambles in the first half of fiscal year 2026, up from 53 in the same period the previous year, covering Hokkaido and northern Honshu — areas proximate to Russia’s Sakhalin Island. Russia has been observed conducting long-range surveillance and intelligence-gathering flights in this region. The Western Air Defense Command, responsible for Kyushu, Shikoku, and southern Honshu, recorded 102 scrambles, a sharp increase from 14 in fiscal year 2025. This surge is attributed to heightened Chinese flight activity in the East China Sea and Russian aircraft moving from the Sea of Japan into the East China Sea to coordinate with Chinese units. The Central Air Defense Command logged 27 scrambles, compared to nine in the prior fiscal year, primarily in response to Russian air activity in the Sea of Japan.

The report also documented 25 instances of unusual flight behavior, including operations by Russian IL-20 and Chinese Y-9 ELINT aircraft and TB-001 unmanned aerial vehicles. Two entries referenced bomber flights. Notably, between September 3 and 7, 2026, Japanese fighters were scrambled on five consecutive days in response to a single Chinese Y-9 ELINT aircraft operating over the East China Sea. The Joint Staff Office emphasized that these patterns reflect sustained and coordinated aerial activity by foreign military aircraft near Japanese-controlled airspace, though no confirmed violations of sovereign airspace have been recorded during the period.