Russian chopper enters Japan airspace, fighters scrambled

A Russian helicopter entered Japanese airspace off Hokkaido, the country's northernmost main island, on Friday, prompting the scrambling of Air Self-Defense Force fighter jets, the Defense Ministry said.The Mi8 helicopter invaded Japanese airspace near Cape Shiretoko, eastern Hokkaido, at around 12:25 p.m. and the ASDF fighters warned it over the intrusion, the ministry said.The chopper is believed to have entered Japanese airspace by accident as it flew out of the zone several minutes later without making any provocative actions, the ministry added.Following the incident, the Japanese gove…READ FULL ARTICLE