US ally intercepts Chinese military attack drone

Japan’s Self-Defense Forces on Monday alerted F-15 fighter jets to intercept a Chinese Air Force drone that first appeared near the country’s southwestern islands, the Japanese Defense Ministry said.

The Joint Staff in Tokyo said that the Japanese Air Force jet fighters had taken off to prevent a possible violation of airspace by a Wing Loong-10 unmanned aircraft. The vehicle had entered the Japanese air defense zone but had not entered Japanese airspace.

A Newsweek A map created using geospatial data from the Joint Chiefs of Staff shows the flight path of the military drone, which Japan identified as a reconnaissance and attack aircraft, during a mission in the East China Sea.

Tokyo said WL-10 approached from China’s east coast and circled the waters at least twice before returning to the Asian continent.

Japan is a long-time ally of the United States and shares air and sea borders with some of its fiercest geopolitical competitors and adversaries, including China, Russia and North Korea.

While Tokyo manages its economic relations and territorial disputes with Beijing and Moscow, it continues to intercept aircraft within Japan’s air defense zone and regularly announces the positions of the Chinese and Russian air forces and navies.

Monday’s interception was the first time that Japan Air Self-Defense Force aircraft were alerted to a WL-10 drone. In March, Japanese fighter jets spotted a Chinese WZ-7 spy drone in the Sea of ​​Japan for the first time since records began.

Last month, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Japanese aircraft fired at nearby Russian and Chinese aircraft 13 and 28 times respectively.

A photo taken by a Japanese pilot and attached to the report shows the WL-10 in a gray and white livery, the same color scheme the Chinese Air Force will use on the drone at the country’s largest annual air show in southern Zhuhai in 2022.

The Chinese military’s official name for the drone was also known there: WZ-10, a reference to its equipment for high-altitude and long-range reconnaissance as well as for electronic warfare.

Publicly available research suggests that at least a dozen WZ-10s – built by the state-owned Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group – are in service with the Chinese Air Force, which is expected to use the drone for reconnaissance and precision strike missions.

The Chinese drone’s deployment in the East China Sea was notable for another reason: It appeared to target Japan’s southwestern islands, from which Tokyo had previously warned it could fire anti-missile missiles at a passing North Korean missile that ultimately failed to reach space.

Coordinates provided by the Japanese government confirmed earlier investigations that found Patriot surface-to-air missile sites on the Japanese islands of Yonaguni, Ishigaki and Miyako, as well as Okinawa, which is home to some 30,000 active-duty U.S. troops and the Kadena Air Force Base.

The Chinese Ministry of Defense could not be reached for comment.