January 22, 2025

It has been learned that a U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey aircraft, during training drills for dropping supplies by parachute, accidently dropped cargo weighing more than 400 kilograms into the sea around the Iejima Auxiliary Airfield (Ie Village, Okinawa) on January 16.

Nashiro Masahide, Ie Village mayor, submitted a letter of protest to the Defense Ministry’s Okinawa Defense Bureau on January 20, saying, “We cannot allow training exercises of dropping cargo by parachute to be conducted over our municipality because they are dangerous.” The mayor demanded that Japan’s defense authorities urge the U.S. Forces Japan to carry out a thorough investigation into the cause of the accident and cancel the drills.

According to the local defense bureau, the U.S. side reported to the Japanese side that an MV-22 on January 16 dropped an object into the sea when it was participating in the parachute drop training exercises at the Iejima Auxiliary Airfield, and that there was no human casualty. The village government was relieved but said, “One wrong move could have resulted in a serious accident involving the villagers.”

Naka Minoru, Japanese Communist Party member and former Ie Village assemblyperson, pointed out that countless cases have occurred in which U.S. soldiers landed in farmland outside training fields during parachute training exercises. Naka said that the latest incident could have endangered civilian fishing boats, and that “similar accidents will occur as long as parachute training continues.”