ASDF scrambles hit 299 in FY '09, 1st against N. Korean planes in decade+

TOKYO, April 15 Kyodo -
Japanese Air Self-Defense Force fighter jets were scrambled against foreign
airplanes flying near Japanese airspace 299 times in fiscal 2009 through March
31, up 62 from the previous year with the jets deployed against North Korean
planes for the first time in a decade, the Self-Defense Forces said Thursday.
Of the total number of ASDF scrambles, 66 percent were against Russian planes,
13 percent against Chinese, 8 percent against Taiwanese, 3 percent against
North Korean and the remaining 10 percent against aircraft from other countries
such as South Korea, the United States and India, according to the SDF's Joint
Staff Office.
None of the planes violated Japanese airspace, it added.
ASDF jets were scrambled against planes suspected to have been dispatched by
North Korea eight times around the North Korean missile launch over Japan on
April 5, 2009. It was the first Japanese scrambles against planes suspected to
be from the North since March 1999, according to the office.
The launch of a new flight route linking mainland China and Taiwan in July last
year led to an increase in the number of scrambles against Chinese and
Taiwanese civilian planes, but the figure later dropped after the ASDF began
obtaining flight plans for those planes in advance.
ASDF fighter planes are on alert 24 hours a day so they can be sent airborne at
a moment's notice if foreign airplanes appear likely to violate the airspace
unannounced.
The Defense Ministry began compiling data on ASDF scrambles in fiscal 1958. The
data showed that the number peaked at 944 in fiscal 1984 at the height of the
Cold War. Over the past 10 years, the figure has hovered between about 150 and
300.
==Kyodo