Japan scrambled fighter aircraft on 19 October after a Chinese BZK-005 reconnaissance drone, Y-9 intelligence-gathering aircraft and TB-001 reconnaissance-and-attack drone flew near the country’s southwestern islands as Japan and the United States opened Exercise Keen Sword 27. Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force photographed all three aircraft during the operation, which took place near air corridors leading into the Pacific.
The BZK-005 and Y-9 flew from the East China Sea through the gap between Okinawa’s main island and Miyakojima, entered the Pacific and then returned towards China. The TB-001 passed between Taiwan and Yonaguni before flying as far as waters off Amami Oshima and turning back. Fighters from the Southwestern Air Defense Force responded, although Japan has not disclosed the number or types involved.
Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi described the flights as the first publicly confirmed passage of Chinese military drones between Okinawa and Miyakojima since June 2025. A Chinese GJ-2 armed drone was reported on the route in February 2025. Recent related activity included a TB-001 flight off Okinawa on 9 October and suspected unmanned-aircraft activity near Yonaguni and in the East China Sea on 14 October.
Keen Sword 27 runs until 29 October and involves approximately 45,000 Japanese personnel, 11,000 US personnel, 40 vessels and 260 aircraft. Koizumi declined to link the Chinese flights directly to the exercise, saying Japan would assess China’s intentions without making assumptions.