China Herald: Japan documents intrusion by Chinese military aircraft

Wendell Minnick

The Japanese ministry of defense (MoD) has launched a website documenting intrusions by Chinese military aircraft in the East China Sea, writes defense analyst Wendell Minnick in Defense News. China´s activities have increased rapidly, the website says.

Wendell Minnick:

The website points to intrusions by Chinese State Oceanic Administration (SOA) aircraft, such as the fixed-wing Y-12, and the Chinese military’s H-6 bomber, Y-8 airborne early warning aircraft, and Tu-154 intelligence collection aircraft.

The website does not confirm, but only suspects, intrusions by Chinese fighter aircraft, listing the Sukhoi Su-27 and Chengdu J-10 fighters and Xian JH-7 fighter-bomber as possible offenders.

The number of fighter sorties, including “presumptions,” by Japanese fighter aircraft went from negligible in 2001 to around 300 in 2012. To be fair, the number of new radar and intelligence collection stations built over the past several years along the Ryukyus Island chain, such as Seburi-yama Mountain on Kyushu Island, Fukue-jima Island and Miyako-jima Island, provide better surveillance of the East China Sea.

There is the J/FLR-4 facility on Miyako-jima Island, 200 kilometers east of the Senkaku Islands. The J/FLR-4, activated in 2009, is a panoramic very-high-frequency (VHF), ultrahigh-frequency and super-high-frequency intercept signal intelligence/electronic intelligence (SIGINT/ELINT) system.

There is another J/FLR-4 base on Fukue-jima and just north of Okinawa is a SIGINT and COMINT station on Kikaijima Island. In operation since 2006, it consists of a large, indigenously designed, circularly disposed antenna array for VHF and high-frequency direction finding. On Google Earth, this facility resembles a crop circle.

You can find the MoD website here.

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