Three Chinese military drones were spotted near Japan in late August, prompting Tokyo to scramble fighters to investigate their activities, reports South China Morning Post.

Accompanying the drones were a Shaanxi Y-8Q maritime patrol plane and a Shaanxi Y-9JB electronic intelligence aircraft, according to Japanese officials as reported by the newspaper.

But China is not the only country developing and deploying drones in the region. In May, the US temporarily relocated two MQ-4C Triton drones from Guam to the Misawa base in northern Japan – the first such activity by the US military since the drones were sent to Guam early last year, the newspaper reported.