a drone captures the aircraft carrier Izumo without the Japanese realizing it

A video of Japan’s largest warship, the aircraft carrier destroyer ‘Izumo’, which appeared to have been recorded overhead by a drone, has emerged on Chinese social media. Previously it was thought that it was generated with artificial intelligence (AI), now it is confirmed that it was filmed with a UAV, i.e. by a drone which probably started from a position close to the ship, but which then sent the videos in China.

Japan’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) said on May 9 that there is a good chance that a drone illegally flew over the Yokosuka naval base to record the widely shared video of the pride of the Japanese navy. When the video first appeared in late March, authorities dismissed it as a fabrication.

However, an investigation was launched given the seriousness of the situation. Ministry officials confirmed that the investigation (on video) was conducted by examining the surrounding flora and buildings.

“The incident could cause a serious problem for the defense of our country,” Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said at a press conference on May 10. “We take this extremely seriously.”

A 20-second overhead shot of the Maritime Self-Defense Force (SDF) vessel, Izumo, stationed at Yokosuka Naval Base in Kanagawa Prefecture, was uploaded on March 26 to the Chinese video-sharing website Bilibili. In the video you can see the deck of the ship, while the camera slides delicately from the stern to the bow. The drone must have flown at a very low altitude.

Shortly after it appeared on Chinese social media, English, Japanese and Chinese versions of the video went viral on X. At the time, military observers attributed the footage to footage from a Chinese civilian drone. However, the Japanese Ministry of Defense has kept its origin secret.

Asked about the video, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a press conference on May 9: “I don’t know where the footage you mentioned came from.”

In Japan it is against the law to fly drones over SDF sites and their surroundings without authorization. Yokosuka Naval Base is one of the designated facilities where drone detection equipment is used.

In the aftermath of the incident, which caused controversy among the Japanese government, Kihara announced that the Ministry intends to use jamming technology to force (unauthorized) drone landings. Japan also plans to install more sophisticated equipment to counter difficult-to-detect drones.

Drones also on Taiwan

While the drone’s origin remains unknown, Chinese civilian drones have been known to fly over Taiwan’s military facilities.

Last month, for example, footage of Taiwanese soldiers walking in the Kinmen Islands was allegedly captured by civilian drones flying from China into Taiwanese territory.

These videos were published by bloggers on the Chinese social network. This was one of many cases where Chinese drones were reportedly employed to eavesdrop on Taiwanese military sites.

Several military analysts on both sides expressed bewilderment and questioned whether keeping tabs on Taiwan’s military has become so easy for Chinese authorities. China often uses military and civilian drones to fly near Taiwan’s islands.

In early March, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) high-altitude, long-endurance WZ-7 UAV was spotted over the Sea of ​​Japan. The event marked the first sighting of a WZ-7 by Japanese authorities, raising concerns in the strategically important body of water located between the Japanese islands and the East Asian mainland.

The Japanese Ministry of Defense released a statement announcing that it had had to send fighter jets in response to the presence of the Chinese drone. However, according to the Ministry of Defense, the Chinese drone did not violate Japanese territorial airspace.

With a growing number of Chinese UAVs in the region, Japan is believed to be keeping a close eye on the situation, amid concerns that the Chinese military may extend the operational range of its drones to spy.