East China Sea: Japanese Fighter Jets Intercept Three PLA Drones Over The Week

The Japan Air Self Defense Force (JASDF) had to scramble fighter jets three times over the week to monitor Chinese drones that flew over the East China Sea and the strategic Miyako Strait that opens to the Philippine Sea and the broader Western Pacific Ocean. A People's Liberation Army Tengoen TB-001 Scorpion medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) drone flew into the East China Sea northwest of Okinawa Tuesday, prompting JASDF to send fighters to investigate its activities, reported The Drive. A PLA Harbin BZK-005 MALE drone then flew a sortie back and forth through the Miyako Strait Wednesday, followed by another TB-001 through Miyako Strait, which lies southwest of the island of Okinawa, on Thursday. According to the Japanese officials, one Shaanxi Y-8Q maritime patrol plane and one Shaanxi Y-9JB electronic intelligence aircraft accompanied the drones on their flights the last two days. This comes as a testament to PLA's growing unmanned aircraft capabilities and its focus on deploying increasingly sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles.