Overview
- Japan’s Joint Staff said Wednesday’s drill over waters between Japan and South Korea featured two U.S. B-52 bombers flying with three ASDF F-35s and three F-15s.
- Officials said the exercise was not a response to a single incident and cited a deteriorating security environment following Sino-Russian bomber activity and recent radar locks.
- Tokyo filed protests over Chinese aircraft targeting Japanese fighters with fire-control radar during separate operations, while Beijing denied the allegations and accused Japanese interference.
- Japan noted the participating B-52s are nuclear-capable, as Taiwan separately reported 27 PLA aircraft including H-6K bombers on a combat-readiness patrol near the island.
- NATO chief Mark Rutte and Japan’s defense minister, Shinjiro Koizumi, shared grave concern over recent incursions and agreed to keep close communication.