TOKYO (Kyodo) — Japan scrambled fighter jets against aircraft approaching its airspace 725 times in fiscal 2020, down 222 times from a year earlier, the Defense Ministry said Friday, as the country seeks to shift its policy from reactively mobilizing planes to proactive surveillance.
Government sources have said Japan has restricted the scrambling of such jets against Chinese military aircraft to only those threatening to violate its airspace, with this policy shift aimed at freeing up resources to concentrate on more high-level training using its latest F-35 stealth fighters.
By country, the largest number of scrambles by Air Self-Defense Force jets came in response to Chinese aircraft, with…
