Faced with a barrage of activity in the East China Sea, Japan has decided to only scramble fighter jets when Chinese military aircraft threaten to violate the country's airspace, government sources have said.
The change in policy comes as the Defense Ministry seeks to shift from reactively mobilizing aircraft to proactive surveillance, freeing up resources to concentrate on more high-level training using its latest F-35 stealth fighters, the sources said Tuesday.
The number of times jets were scrambled in fiscal 2020 has fallen drastically due to the new restrictive policy despite China's continued assertiveness in the East China Sea during the pandemic, according to the Defense Ministry.