Japan Air Self-Defense Force pilots board an Mitsubishi F-2A fighter jet at an undisclosed location in this undated image. (Japan's Ministry of Defense)

Chinese pilots made the fewest approaches toward Japanese airspace in more than a decade this spring and summer, even as Beijing increased its drone flights near Japan’s westernmost island, according to Japan’s Joint Staff.

Japan Air Self-Defense Force pilots scrambled 265 times to meet foreign aircraft from April to September, down from 358 during the same period last year, Self-Defense Force data released Friday showed.

That’s about 26% fewer intercepts in the first half of Japan’s 2025 fiscal year than in 2024, continuing a three-year decline. Japan’s fiscal year runs from April 1 to March 31.

Of those sorties, 198 involved Chinese aircraft, compared with 242 during the same period last year. The last time that number dropped below 200 was in the first half of fiscal 2013, when Japan scrambled 149 times against Chinese aircraft.

Only one aircraft — a Chinese helicopter — entered Japanese airspace without permission this year, flying near the Senkaku Islands on May 3, according to the Joint Staff. Most approaching aircraft enter Japan’s 230-mile-wide air defense identification zone but turn back before reaching its 14-mile-wide territorial airspace.

However, Chinese drones transited between Yonaguni — Japan’s westernmost island — and Taiwan “more frequently” than during the same period last year, according to the Joint Staff. A spokesman reached by phone Tuesday did not provide the exact number of drone transits. Some Japanese government officials speak to the press only on condition of anonymity.

Japan’s Ministry of Defense has warned in its 2024 and 2025 white papers that it may shoot down unmanned aircraft entering its airspace if necessary to protect the “lives and properties of people within Japanese territory.”

Russia also reduced its airspace challenges, according to the Joint Staff. Japan scrambled 59 times against Russian aircraft during the six-month period, compared with 114 times a year earlier. The last time that number fell below 100 was in 2022, when Japan intercepted 95 Russian aircraft.

Despite the decrease in challenges, “Chinese objectives haven’t changed,” said retired Marine Col. Grant Newsham, a senior researcher with the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies in Tokyo.

“They fully intend to dominate Japanese territory and ultimately seize it — the Senkakus for starters but the wider Nansei Shoto eventually,” he told Stars and Stripes by email Tuesday.

China’s navy has maintained a daily presence around the Senkakus, a group of uninhabited islets east of Taiwan administered by Japan but claimed by China and Taiwan.

In June, China’s two operational aircraft carriers — the Shandong and Liaoning — operated simultaneously in the Pacific for the first time. Chinese fighters made close approaches to Japanese aircraft three times on June 7 and 8 during the exercise.

“Naval and maritime operations in Japanese territory are considerable and causing the Japanese plenty of heartburn,” Newsham said.