China and Russia are doing a "partnership" mission.

Thanks for the article Kris!

via WantChinaTimes.

Sixteen fighters from the United States Air Force and Japan Air Self-Defense Force have been deployed to monitor the Maritime Cooperation 2013 joint naval exercise launched by China's PLA Navy and the Russian Navy in the Sea of Japan, reports the Tokyo-based Japan News Network.
The Japan News Network believes that the joint air combat exercise launched by the United States and Japan between July 8-12 is intend to monitor China and Russia's joint naval exercise taking place at the same time. Eight F-16 fighters from the 35th Fighter Wing of the US Air Force and eight F-15J fighters from the 2nd Air Wing of Japan Air Self-Defense Force are taking part in the exercise held in the airspace between Hokkaido and Misawa.
Because Hokkaido is only 600 kilometers from the Peter the Great Gulf located off the Russian Far East coast, aircraft taking off from there can easily monitor the movements of Chinese and Russian ships in the Sea of Japan. Japanese early warning aircraft and frigates had already been deployed to patrol the waters of Hokkaido and the Sea of Japan on July 4.
During the joint air combat exercise, US and Japanese fighters will conduct patrols over the airspace of northern Japan 24 hours per day.
About 18 surface combat vessels, one submarine, three fixed-wing aircraft, five helicopters and two special force detachments have been mobilized by the PLA Navy and the Russian Pacific Fleet for their drill.

The obvious is why would you use fighter aircraft to monitor an exercise?

The answer.  You wouldn't.  You would launch fighters to protect your spy planes/uavs from being harassed though.   And that's my guess on whats actually going on here.  You're seeing a massing of spy assets to monitor the Chinese and Russian wargames and the fighters are simply providing cover to that spy force.

All this leads to a much larger issue.

The US Navy seems to be sold on partnership missions and is intent on using them to make up for gaps in the US fleet.

We seem to be ignoring the fact that diplomacy is also part of warfare.  The Chinese will seek to make alliances (with Russia) and will seek to nullify our own partnerships.  Expect one of the warning signs of a military action to be either the issuance of carrots or massive sticks being brought to bear against our allies.

If China is planning a war and is able to warn off Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand and to sow hesitancy in the Australians then it would (in this mythical scenario) be the US and Japan versus China and Russia.

This is going to be interesting.

Side Note:  I'd pay good money to know what sub is getting the mission to spy on these drills.  That's where the real intel effort will be taking place.  With the Chinese and the Russians playing someone is looking at the chance of a lifetime.  This is a career making assignment if I'm right.  Hell, its career making for the entire crew if they can pull it off.  Of course if they screw up and are detected then they can start searching the help wanted ads.