On 27 February, Japanese fighter jets were scrambled to escort Russian Su-24MR tactical reconnaissance aircraft over the Sea of Japan.

According to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF),  Russian Sukhoi Su-24MR tactical reconnaissance aircraft flew close to Japanese airspace but noted that Japanese airspace was not trespassed.

The Press service of the Russian Eastern military district, in response to an application by the JASDF, reported that Su-24MR warplane has performed a planned mission over the Sea of Japan.

“The crew of the SU-24MR of the Eastern military district has performed a planned flight over the Sea of Japan’s basin. The flight was scheduled strictly with accordance to international flight regulations and use of air traffic. The borders of other states were not violated”, the press service said.

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The Su-24MR is the tactical reconnaissance version of the Su-24 family which the codename Fencer-E.The aircraft had removed all the attack system expect the necessary equipments such as the terrain-following radar.besides,a series of new equipments for the reconnaissance missions such as the Aist-M camera,RDS-BO side-looking airborne radar were installed.

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Using an on-board wide-band radio channel the aircraft can transmit data from some sensors in near real time to dedicated ground stations. In addition, the camera pods can also develop film in-flight, which can then be dropped inside a special canister to a ground based command post or mobile Reconnaissance Intelligence Cell (RIC).