中国無人機飛到尖閣諸島附近

Recently the Yomiuri News on-line reported the following:

航空幕僚長「別の対応が必要」…東シナ海無人機

　東シナ海上空に中国軍の無人機が飛来し、航空自衛隊のＦ１５戦闘機がスクランブル（緊急発進）した問題で、空自トップの斉藤治和・航空幕僚長は１３日の記者会見で、「色々なタイプの無人機を飛ばしていることは事実。戦闘機側も別の対応が必要になるので、（対策を）訓練にどう反映させるか検討している」と述べた。

　同省統合幕僚監部によると、無人機は９日午前、東シナ海の北西方向から飛来し、尖閣諸島（沖縄県）の北方約２００キロの空域を飛び回った後、ほぼ同じルートで中国大陸の方向に飛び去った。スクランブルした空自機が無人機を確認したのは初めてという。

　中国側の報道などで、無人機は空対地ミサイルを装備できる「翼竜」とみられると指摘された点について、斉藤空幕長は「（機種が）確実に特定されているわけではない」と述べた。

（2013年9月13日21時45分 読売新聞）

(試譯文)

About the problem that an unmanned aircraft from the Chinese army flied over the East China Sea and that the F15 fighter of the Air Self Defense Force carried out scramble (urgent take-off), the top official of the air defense forces, the Chief of Staff of the Air Self Defense Force Harukazu Saito at a press conference on the 13th said "it is a fact that some type of unmanned aircraft had been flown. About our fighter plane, because another type of response is needed, it is necessary to examine how to reflect this in their training (measure)".

According to the Joint Staff Office of the said ministry, the unmanned aircraft had flown from the northwest of the East China Sea on the morning of the 9th, and it flew around the airspace which was about 200 km north of the Senkaku Islands (Okinawa Prefecture), afterwards it flew away in the direction of the China mainland by almost the same route. It was said that the Air Defense plane which carried out the scramble checked the unmanned aircraft for the first time.

Regarding the point that based on the reports in China etc. the unmanned aircraft was considered to be the "pterosaur" which could be equipped with the air-to-surface missile, Saito the Chief of Staff said that "(the model) could not be specified with certainty".

Probably China is changing tactics to challenge Japan over the Senkaku Islands sovereignty dispute.