Dutch and Japanese warplanes take to the skies to accompany Russian bombers

THE HAGUE, August 21, /ITAR-TASS/. A Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16 fighter jet took to the skies twice on Thursday to escort two Russian Tu-95 bombers, the Dutch Defense Ministry said.

According to the Ministry, two Russian warplanes were flying from the north accompanied by two Danish F-16 planes. A Dutch fighter jet accompanied the Tu-95s over the Dutch territory up to the British area of responsibility.

Japan To Deploy Anti-Ship Missiles On Okinawa’s Miyako Island

Japan plans to deploy a surface-to-ship missile unit on Miyako Island in the country’s southern-most Okinawa prefecture for the first time next month.

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This would put all waters between the islands within range of the guided anti-ship missiles, reports the NHK broadcaster.

Surveillance facility eyed for Pacific

BANGKOK – The Defense Ministry plans to build a communications intelligence facility on Iwoto Island in the Pacific to improve its ability to conduct surveillance on China and its growing military presence, a government source said Thursday.

The ministry’s budget request for next fiscal year includes part of the ¥12 billion needed to build the facility, which would come online in fiscal 2017, the source said. Iwoto, about 1,250 km south of Tokyo, used to be known as Iwojima and was the site of a terrible battle during World War II. Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera will visit the island early next month.

Japanese Self-Defense Force jets scramble Chinese bombers

Japan’s Defense Ministry on Sunday reported that two Chinese H-6 bombers were spotted flying around the East China Sea to the Pacific Ocean. Even though the aircraft did not violate Japanese airspace, Air Self-Defense Force jets scrambled the fighter aircraft just the same, after the planes were also spotted overflying waters near the Okinawa islands.

PAC3 missile interceptors deployed in Tokyo

Japan’s Defense Ministry has deployed surface-to-air interceptor missiles at its premises in central Tokyo to prepare for a possible missile launch by North Korea.

The measure is part of Japan’s Self Defense Force contingency preparations. However, details of the plan are being kept confidential for security reasons.

Chinese airplane enters Japanese airspace over Senkakus for 1st time

A Chinese government airplane entered Japanese airspace over the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea on Thursday in the first such airspace intrusion in Japan, prompting an immediate protest from the Japanese government.

The Air Self-Defense Force scrambled F-15 fighter jets to the area after one of China’s State Oceanic Administration airplanes was spotted at 11:06 a.m. about 15 kilometers south of Uotsuri Island, one of the Japanese-administered Senkakus claimed by China, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told reporters.

It is the first-ever intrusion by China into Japanese airspace since Tokyo started tallying the number of such intrusions in 1958, according to the Defense Ministry.

Cyber Blitz

A recent series of cyber attacks on Japanese Internet sites originated in China and were viewed as a possible prelude to military action, according to defense officials familiar with details of the attacks.

Japan’s National Police Agency revealed last week that at least 19 Japanese websites were hit by cyber attacks timed to increase tensions between Tokyo and Beijing over the Senkaku islands.

U.S. officials said the sites affected included Japan’s Defense Ministry, Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, and the country’s supreme court. Banking and utilities networks also were hit.

Other sites that were attacked included Japan’s Statistics Bureau and the government’s Internet TV, which were temporarily blocked. A university hospital network also was hit.

Earlier this month, up to six Chinese military vessels moved into Japanese waters and then withdrew, Japan’s coast guard reported.

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According to one U.S. official, the Chinese-origin cyber attacks are considered a preview of how China’s military would conduct the opening phase of a military campaign. The official did not say China is preparing some type of military engagement with Japan over the islands, but warned that one could erupt through miscalculation.

The latest cyber attacks began in mid-September and appeared timed to Beijing’s growing animosity toward Japan over the island dispute.

The Japanese police said in a statement that the cyber attacks were “presumably connected” to the islands dispute. The attack targets were posted on the web site of the Chinese hacker group “Honker Union” and included “government executive agencies and important infrastructure companies.”

The National Police Agency stepped up monitoring of websites through the Cyber Force Center and alerted organizations listed as the attack targets. The center was seeking to analyze the attacks and prevent their spread, the statement said.

Tatsuo Kawabata, Internal Affairs and Communications minister, told Kyodo News that the ministry’s network was hit with an intermittent attack for a total of seven-and-a-half hours beginning Sept. 15. The attack was most intense on Sept. 16, when 95 percent of the traffic to the site originated in China.

The recent cyber attacks appeared to be less sophisticated than the kinds of cyber attacks that the Pentagon has detected in recent years and would likely precede a military conflict.

However, the attacks also appeared designed to give China’s government deniability for the digital strikes and could also be multiple purpose strikes for both political and military goals.

Many of the attacked websites were replaced with a Chinese flag and proclamations that China owned the Senkakus.

Japan’s National Police Association reported that the Chinese hackers had targeted 300 organizations in Japan, and that several thousand Chinese had posted notices of the planned attacks and hacker tools to be used on a chat site called “YY Chat.”

An official said one Chinese group behind the attacks was identified as a well-known group that is suspected of having ties to the Chinese government.

The group is called the Honker Union and surfaced several months ago after a period of relative quiet, the official said.

Full article: Cyber Blitz (Washington Free Beacon)