Japan’s Joint Staff recorded a Chinese Y-9 intelligence-gathering aircraft over the East China Sea each day from September 3 to September 7, 2026, and scrambled Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) fighters in response each time.
The most recent notice, published on September 7, 2026, describes a single Y-9 arriving from the direction of the Chinese mainland that afternoon, flying to a point south of the Danjo Islands in Nagasaki Prefecture, turning southwest, reversing off Okinawa Island to head northeast, then changing course again south of the Danjo Islands before returning toward the mainland. Fighters of the Western Air Defense Force responded, as did other units.
(Credit: Japan Ministry of Defense / Joint Staff)
Chinese Y-9 flights follow similar routes near Okinawa
The Joint Staff described similar routes on the four preceding days. On September 5, 2026, the Y-9 approached from the Chinese mainland, changed course off Okinawa Island, tracked northeast, then turned again off the Danjo Islands before leaving.
The Southwestern Air Defense Force handled that scramble. The Western Air Defense Force, which covers the approaches to the Danjo Islands, responded to the other four flights.
Russian Il-20 flight also triggers fighter scramble
(Credit: JASDF / Japan Ministry of Defense)
A separate notice, also published on September 7, 2026, recorded a Russian Il-20 intelligence-gathering aircraft flying from the mainland through the Sea of Okhotsk into the Pacific on September 5, 2026. The aircraft flew south, as far as the waters off Miyagi Prefecture, before reversing and returning through the Sea of Okhotsk to the Sea of Japan. Northern Air Defense Force fighters were scrambled.
None of the notices report an incursion into Japanese territorial airspace. Joint Staff figures for the 2025 fiscal year, which closed on March 31, 2026, record 595 scrambles in total, about 61% of them against Chinese aircraft.
The Western Air Defense Force accounted for 46 of that annual total, down from 102 in the 2024 fiscal year. The same sector responded to the Chinese and Russian joint strategic air patrol on June 27, 2026.