2015-03-07 According to the February 2015, Japan Defense Focus published by the Japanese Ministry of Defence, there has be a significant increase in scrambles by the ASDF in 2014 compared to 2013.
And the cause?
No surprise here: incursions by the Russians and the Chinese.
The ASDF scrambled 744 times by the end of the third quarter of FY2014. It marked a major increase of 181 times compared to the same period of previous year.
The breakdown by countries and regions was 50% against Chinese aircraft, 49% against Russian aircraft, and 1% against other aircraft although the countries and region include supposition.
The ASDF scrambled 371 times against Chinese aircraft, an increase of 84 times compared to the same period of previous year. The MOD made 13 cases public as peculiar flights of Chinese aircraft, including the long distance flight from the East China Sea to the Pacific during the third quarter.
The ASDF scrambled 369 times against Russian aircraft, an increase of 58 times compared to the same period of previous year. The MOD publicized 2 cases as peculiar flights by Russia during the third quarter.
There was no air intrusion during the period. Scrambles against Chinese fighter aircraft and Russian reconnaissance aircraft were outstanding in frequency, compared to other types of aircraft of each country, although this includes estimation.
The period of this data is from April 1st, 2014 to December 31st, 2014