(My latest for Jane's Defence Weekly) Russia stepping up air surveillance around Japan

ASIA PACIFIC Date Posted: 10-Apr-2012 Jane's Defence Weekly Russia stepping up air surveillance around Japan Kosuke Takahashi JDW Correspondent Tokyo The Russian Pacific Fleet has been increasing its air surveillance missions over the Sea of Japan and in the Western Pacific where Japan and the United States have deployed Aegis-equipped destroyers ahead of North Korea's planned satellite launch. Russian Ilyushin Il-38 ('May') aircraft flew over the Sea of Japan on 22 March, 29 March and 6 April, while two Tupolev Tu-142s appeared over the Pacific side of the Japanese archipelago on 27 March, according to the Joint Staff Office of Japan's Ministry of Defence (MoD). On all occasions the Japan Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF) scrambled fighter aircraft such as Mitsubishi F-15Js to intercept the Russian aircraft, it added. "As tensions run high over North Korea's expected rocket launch, Russian aircraft seem to be carrying out surveillance missions," an MoD official said. Russia also may want to carry out surveillance on the ongoing joint US-South Korean 'Foal Eagle' exercise, which runs from 1 March to 30 April, the official said. To activate Japan's missile defence system and intercept the missile or any debris from North Korea's rocket, the Japan Self-Defence Forces have deployed land-based PAC-3 interceptors to seven locations in the Tokyo metropolitan area as well as on the Okinawa, Ishigaki and Miyako islands in southwestern Japan. In addition, three Kongo-class Aegis-equipped destroyers fitted with Standard SM-3 Block IA missiles, JS Chokai , JS Kirishima and JS Myoko , have been deployed to the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan to track the launch. Japan's NHK TV station reported on 10 April that the US Navy had deployed USS Shiloh , a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser, near Miyako island, while US-based CNN reported that the US had sent the Sea-Based X-band Radar One (SBX-1), its most advanced mobile radar system, from Pearl Harbor to the northeastern Pacific. Copyright © IHS Global Limited, 2012