Scrambles against Russian aircraft fell 76% to 57 times, Reuters reported. The sharp slide in this year’s quarterly decline, however, does not necessarily signal a slowdown in Russian military activities in the region, according to a Defense Ministry official.
Meanwhile, scrambles against Chinese planes rose 10% to 114 times in the second quarter of this year. Japan and its neighbors in the Pacific are alarmed over Beijing’s military modernization and assertiveness in the South China Sea.
The United States is hopeful that an increasingly militarized Japan means Tokyo will take the lead on multinational defense alliances in Asia.
Hours before the release of the scramble data, Japanese lawmakers approved bills allowing Japan to exercise its right of collective self-defense, or militarily aiding a friendly country under attack, Reuters reported.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government says that more foreign threats, underscored by North Korea's nuclear project, calls for a tougher security policy, Reuters reported.
In the 2014-15 fiscal year, which ended in March, Japan's fighter jet scrambles reached a 30-year-high not seen since the Cold War, due partly to the rise in the number of scrambles against Russian aircraft.
