Asia-Pacific Military Aviation News roundup: 23 Aug 2013

A People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Nanchang Q-5 has crashed near Dalian, in China's Liaoning Province today. The pilot was unfortunately killed in the crash.

Japan has announced that about half of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force's 13 E-2C Hawkeye Airborne Early Warning aircraft will be transferred to Naha in Okinawa from their current base in Misawa, northern Japan. This is to improve the area's Early Warning coverage in the face of increased Chinese overflights in the area surrounding the disputed Senkaku Islands.

Meanwhile, I've done up a separate blog post with more details about JASDF F-2 fighters intercepting a pair of Russian Tupolev Tu-95MS Bears that were accused of violating Japanese airspace. Japan has lodged an official complaint, and Russia says it's investigating.

Russian AF Bears bring about JASDF interceptors (again)

Tu-95MS Bear photographed by intercepting Japanese fighters (Japanese MoD photo). Click on image for high-res version

Japan has lodged a formal complaint with Russia regarding the intrusion into Japanese airspace by a pair of Russian Air Force Tupolev Tu-95MS Bear bombers near Fukuoka in Japan's main southern island of Kyushu.

According to the press release (in Japanese) issued by the Japanese Ministry of Defense, the instrusion took place on the 22nd of August between 1209 and 1211 local time. The bombers were intercepted by Mitsubishi F-2 fighters, almost certainly from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force's 6th Hikotai based at Tsuiki.

Bear tracks (in red)

It has become something of a scripted event in recent times. Whenever Japan brings up the issue of the disputed Kuril Islands that were seized by the former Soviet Union in the closing days of World War II, Russia sends over its military aircraft to buzz Japan.

I reckon it's like the 1980s movie Beetlejuice, and Japan saying "Kurile Islands" is saying "Beetlejuice" 3 times in the movie, with the difference being that saying the former brings Russian aircraft to Japan's doorstep.

Russian bombers carrying out weapons exercise in waters near Japan

The Russian Defence Ministry has said up to 40 strategic bombers will participate in five-day drills in Russia’s Maritime Territory near the Japanese border. 30 Tu-95MS Bear strategic bombers and 10 Tu-22M3 Backfires will drop bombs and launch airborne cruise missiles at the Litovka test range, with 2 Il-78 Midas carrying out aerial refueling.

A-50 AEW among 5 Russian aircraft intercepted by JASDF in 1 day

Russian A-50 AEW. (Photo: unknown)

Japan's Defense Ministry has said that a total of 5 Russian military aircraft were intercepted by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) off Japan on Wednesday, including the appearance of an Ilyushin/Beriev A-50 Airborne Early Warning aircraft for the first time.

The other aircraft intercepted were two Tupolev Tu-95 'Bear' bombers/maritime reconnaissance aircraft and two Sukhoi Su-24 'Fencer' reconnaissance aircraft. According to the chronology provided, the A-50 and two Tu-95s made their appearance at around 0900 Japan Standard Time, triggering the first round of interceptions by the JASDF. This was followed by two Su-24s, flying individually, in the afternoon.

The graphic below, released by the Japanese MoD, shows the flightpath of the respective aircraft taken during Wednesday's interceptions. I'm not sure if I'm reading too much into this, but looking at the flightpath of the 2 Su-24s, it is worth noting that the 'Fencers' were headed on a direct line to Tokyo (light purple track) and the USAF/JASDF based at Misawa (dark purple track) before turning away as they approached Japanese airspace.


Flightpath of Russian military aircraft intercepted on 8 Feb 2012

It is not known which JASDF types/units intercepted the Russians, with Russian press reports citing "F-16 type" fighters (most likely Mitsubishi F-2s) although looking at the flightpath of the intercepted Russians shadowing the Tu-95s alone would have required interceptors (F-15s, F-2s and maybe even F-4s) from multiple JASDF bases taking turns. Intercepting the Mainstay and Fencers would have been more straightforward, with the A-50 and southern Su-24 likely to be intercepted by the F-2s from Tsuiki or F-15s from Komatsu, with the northern Su-24 likely to be handled by F-2s from Misawa.

If the Japanese MoD statement identifying the Fencers as reconnaissance aircraft is accurate, they would possibly be Su-24MRs belonging to the 174 OMShAP (Otdelnyy Morskoy Shturmovoy Aviatsionnyy Polk, or Independent Naval Shturmovik Aviation Regiment) of the V-VS TOF (Pacific Fleet Naval Aviation, AVMF) based at Pristan at the southern tip of the Far East Military District.


Russian AF Sukhoi Su-24MR 'Fencer-E' (Photo: Dmitriy Pichugin)

With the A-50, the Russian AF reportedly operates 26 of the AEW platfrms based on the Ilyushin Il-76, normally based at Ivanovo-Severnyy near Moscow but have been known to deploy to Russia's Far East for exercises on occasion.

Note: We had previously looked at the Russian AF's Tu-95 Bear units of Russia's Far East Military District in an earlier article.

Russian Bears circle off Japan, South Korean and Japanese intercept

Japan has said that a pair of Russian Tupolev Tu-95MS 'Bear' bombers have conducted an overflight of the seas off Japan, heading through the Straits of Tsushima before turning around and flying back to their base via the Pacific Ocean east of Japan. (NOTE: The Bears were likely to be from the 79th or 182nd GBAD/Heavy Bomber Air Regiment based at Ukrainka-Seryshevo in Russia's Far East)

Russian defence authorities have confirmed that the aircraft conducted a mission lasting 19 hours over the Pacific. It added that the Tupolevs were escorted by Japan Air Self Defence Force and Republic of Korea Air Force fighters at various times, and that there were no violations of Japan's airspace.

Russia and Japan are embroiled in a dispute over the ownership of the Kurile Islands, north of Japan's northern island of Hokkaido.

VIDEO: Dutch F-16s Intercept Tu-95

The Dutch military has released this video of a close encounter between the Dutch KLu's F-16s and a Russian Air Force Tupolev Tu-95 'Bear' maritime reconnaissance aircraft/missile carrier. This marked the fourth time this year that Dutch fighters have been scrambled to intercept Russian bombers.

The Dutch F-16s intercepted two Bears that entered Dutch airspace without identifying themselves on Aug. 17, after the Bears had been shadowed by Danish F-16s. After leaving Dutch airspace, Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoons took over.

Back to the familiar scenes like this that we saw often during the Cold War, only with different interceptors, and we get JHMCS-recorded videos to gawk at these days as well.

Dutch F-16s intercept Russian Tu-95s over Dutch airspace

Radio Netherlands Worldwide has reported that Dutch F-16 fighters have intercepted a pair of Russian Tu-95 "Bear" long range bombers flying over Dutch airspace. The bombers had previously been intercepted by Norwegian and Danish patrols.

Russian Air Force lifts Tu-95 grounding order

The Russian Air Force has lifted the grounding order on its fleet of Tupolev Tu-95 long range maritime patrol aircraft/bomber. The grounding order was issued due to a recent fatal crash of an Antonov An-22 transport, which uses a similar engine.

Russian Air Force An-22s and Tu-95s grounded

Following the fatal crash of an Antonov An-22 transport in central Russia, the Russian Air Force has grounded its fleet of An-22s and Tupolev Tu-95 bomber/maritime reconnaissance aircraft. Both aircraft types share the Kuznetsov NK-12 turboprop, the largest engine of its kind in the world.