Japan reports first sighting of new PLA combat drone over East China Sea
- Japanese Ministry of Defence says it monitored the WZ-10 UAV flying near Okinawa within air defence zone
- The news comes on the same day Tokyo says Chinese ships have sailed near disputed Diaoyu Islands for a record 158 consecutive days
Japan’s Ministry of Defence said on Monday that it had, for the first time, monitored a WZ-10 military drone from the Wing Loong-10 family over the East China Sea, north of Japan’s far southwestern prefecture of Okinawa.
The WZ-10 was reportedly flying eastwards from China, taking a northeasterly course before returning along the same route.
In a statement shared on X, formerly Twitter, Japan’s Joint Staff Office, which oversees the country’s maritime, ground and air self-defence forces, said fighter jets were sent from the Southwestern Air Command Support Flight – a unit of the air force based at the Naha Air Base in Okinawa.
“This was the first time that this aircraft was spotted in an airspace violation response by the Japanese Navy,” the post read, without naming the aircraft sent to monitor the drone.
The WZ-10 is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group for reconnaissance and precision strike missions. It entered service in November 2022.
