Japanese fighter jets were scrambled to intercept a Chinese military drone flying over the East China Sea spotted for the first time, Tokyo’s defense ministry disclosed this week.
The Chinese WL-10 reconnaissance and strike unmanned aerial vehicle was tracked flying over waters near Okinawa on Monday, prompting the fighter jet response, the Joint Staff Office stated in a press release. Photos of the drone flying were released by the defense ministry.
The Joint Staff Office stated that fighter jets were dispatched to intercept the drone by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force’s Southwestern Air Command Support Flight, an air force unit located at the Naha Air Base in Okinawa. The type of jets used in the interception was not disclosed.
On its social media site, the Joint Staff Office posted a photo the WL-10 and a map showing its track. The WL-10 did not enter Japanese air space, but penetrated the larger air defense identification zone used to monitor foreign air threats.
“This was the first time that this aircraft was spotted in an airspace violation response by the Japanese navy,” the post stated.
The drone flight was tracked heading east and appeared to originate from China.
“China’s military operations are becoming more active, and this is believed to be part of that trend,” a ministry official told Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.
The Wing Loong-10 drone is a long-range, medium-altitude aircraft built by the Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute, a division of the Aviation Industry Corp. of China (AVIC), according to the military website The Aviationist.
“China is rapidly developing a variety of domestic unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) UAVs for reconnaissance and other purposes as well as those capable of carrying weapons such as missiles,” the ministry said in a military white paper issued last year.
“It is suggested that the Chinese Air Force has created a UAV unit for attack missions and frequently used UAVs for reconnaissance and other purposes in waters and airspace surrounding China,” the report stated.
The WL-10 dual-use reconnaissance attack drone can gather electronic intelligence as well as carry weapons. China state media said the drone was first deployed in 2020.
Its potential armaments reportedly include China’s Blue Arrow air-to-surface missiles, light cruise missiles, YL-12 GPS-guided bombs and GB-4 precision-guided bomb.
China flew its smaller WL-7 reconnaissance drone near Japan last year.
The U.S. military also operates similar drones in the area. The MQ-4C Triton maritime surveillance unmanned aircraft has been deployed to Okinawa, and Tritons also are based in Guam.
Tensions remain high between Japan and China over the disputed Senkaku Islands that China is claiming to control and Tokyo insists are its territory. The flight also comes just after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang attended a trilateral summit hosted by South Korea intended to ease tensions in East Asia.
It also followed large-scale Chinese military exercises simulating a military encirclement of Taiwan that ended last weekend, manuevers timed after the recent inauguration of Taiwan’s new president.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.