Japan fighter jets scramble record 533 times against foreign planes

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Japan's Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) scrambled its fighter planes a record 533 times in the first half of fiscal 2014 in response to foreign aircraft approaching Japanese airspace, the Defense Ministry's Joint Staff said Wednesday.

This marked the highest level for the April- September period since comparable data became available in fiscal 2003, and sharply increased from 225 times from a year earlier.

By country, the largest number of operations in the six months through Sept. 30 was made against Russian airplanes at 324 times, mostly for reconnaissance aircraft, followed by Chinese planes at 207 times, chiefly for fighter jets.