Taiwan and Japan intercepted China's KJ-500 airborne early warning aircraft. The Japan Defence Ministry announced that the Air Self Defence Force (JASDF) was carrying out operations to intercept one Shaanxi KJ-500 aircraft on the East China Sea. On the map, it was shared that the KJ-500 was intercepted in the north of the Ishigaki Islands of Japan and in the west of Okinawa, where JASDF came.
The JASDF has two regiments of Mitsubishi F-15J/DJ Eagle interceptors based at Naha in Okinawa, where they have been heavily engaged in intercepting China military aircraft entering Japan’s air defence identification zone. A photo taken by the JASDF interceptor showed the KJ-500 was carrying the serial number “09” on its vertical tail, indicating that it was an aircraft of China’s People’s Liberation Army carrying the new style two-digit serial that is slowly replacing the old five-digit serial number previously carried by PLAN aircraft.
