Japan's defense minister said the use of flares was a legitimate response to airspace violation and "we plan to use it without hesitation."

Japanese fighter jets fired warning flares at a Russian reconnaissance plane after it repeatedly breached the neighbouring country’s airspace, Tokyo said, as tensions rise over Moscow’s increasing military cooperation with China in the region.

The infringements were the first by Russia in five years, according to the Japanese defense ministry. A fighter fired a warning flare in response.

Japanese fighter jets fired warnings flares against a Russian military aircraft that Tokyo said repeatedly entered the country’s territorial airspace, in an unprecedented move against a foreign plane.

After a Russian military patrol aircraft violated Japanese airspace, Japan's Self-Defense Force dispatched an aircraft that, for the first time, fired flares in 'an anti-airspace violation action.'

In a rare move, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) scrambled F-15 and F-35 fighter jets from the Northern Air Defense Forces to intercept a Russian IL-38 patrol aircraft that violated Japanese airspace.

Japan said its warplanes used flares to warn a Russian reconnaissance aircraft to leave northern Japanese airspace on Monday. Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara told reporters that the Russian Il-38 plane breached Japan’s airspace above Rebun Island,

Moscow's actions is the first airspace incursion into Japan by a Russian plane since 2019, when a Tu-95 bomber flew over southern Okinawa and the Izu Islands.

For the first time in 60 years, Japanese fighter jets fired warning flares at a Russian reconnaissance aircraft that violated Japanese airspace, reports The Wall Street Journal. On Monday, the Russian Ilyushin Il-38 reconnaissance aircraft violated it three times.