By Prashanth Parameswaran
Tokyo reportedly scrambling its fighter jets at record pace in the face of growing incursions.
Government statistics suggest Japanese air force jets are scrambling at levels not seen since the Cold War, with Chinese fighters testing its airspace in the southwest and Russian aircraft probing Tokyo in the north, according to Reuters.
According to Japan’s defense ministry, in the nine months ending December 31, fighter jets from Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) scrambled 744 times, about a third more than during the same period the previous year. If scrambles continue at their current numbers up until March 31, they would exceed the 944 mark registered in 1984, in the midst of the Cold War.
The ministry’s statistics show that encounters with Chinese aircraft accounted for about half of the nine month total, surging to 164 in the final quarter of 2014, which was the most ever since such records started to be kept in 1958.
Read the full story at The Diplomat