Japan’s Aging Air Defenses

Constant ‘scramble’ against intruding Chinese fighter jets

By: Todd Crowell

On any given day, four Japanese jet fighters from some airbase will “scramble,” that is take off in a hurry to check out a suspicious intruder entering the country’s air defense zone. The number of scrambles has been rising rapidly as relations with China are strained because of territorial disputes in the East China Sea.

According to th…