July 31, 2013
Amid local citizens’ protests, the U.S. Forces Japan on July 30 unloaded 12 MV-22 Ospreys at the U.S. Iwakuni base in Yamaguchi Prefecture.
The 12 tilt-rotor aircraft will be deployed to the Futenma base in Okinawa Prefecture next week.
The U.S. forcibly deployed the first 12 Ospreys to the Futenma base last year in defiance of the great anger expressed by local residents.
During the unloading of the military transport aircraft, citizens staged a protest at a seawall near the base. One of the protesters said, “With a total of 24 Ospreys, the U.S. will conduct low altitude flight training exercises and other dangerous drills in various locations across Japan.” Another person stated, “We will keep fighting until the defective Ospreys are all sent back to the U.S.”
This additional deployment will lead to a great increase in flight training exercises. In Okinawa, the governor and all levels of assembly in the prefecture are expressing their opposition to the Osprey deployment. Opinion polls also show that the vast majority of Okinawans call for the withdrawal of the military aircraft.
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General Herbert Carlisle, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Air Forces, on July 29 at a press conference held in Washington said that along with the U.S. Kadena Air Force base in Okinawa, the Yokota Air Force base in suburban Tokyo is one of the likeliest candidate sites to host the CV-22 Osprey, an air-force variant of the MV-22 Osprey.
The U.S. reportedly plans to choose a base by the beginning of 2014 and deploy around 10 CV-22s there in the summer of 2015.
The 12 tilt-rotor aircraft will be deployed to the Futenma base in Okinawa Prefecture next week.
The U.S. forcibly deployed the first 12 Ospreys to the Futenma base last year in defiance of the great anger expressed by local residents.
During the unloading of the military transport aircraft, citizens staged a protest at a seawall near the base. One of the protesters said, “With a total of 24 Ospreys, the U.S. will conduct low altitude flight training exercises and other dangerous drills in various locations across Japan.” Another person stated, “We will keep fighting until the defective Ospreys are all sent back to the U.S.”
This additional deployment will lead to a great increase in flight training exercises. In Okinawa, the governor and all levels of assembly in the prefecture are expressing their opposition to the Osprey deployment. Opinion polls also show that the vast majority of Okinawans call for the withdrawal of the military aircraft.
* * *
General Herbert Carlisle, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Air Forces, on July 29 at a press conference held in Washington said that along with the U.S. Kadena Air Force base in Okinawa, the Yokota Air Force base in suburban Tokyo is one of the likeliest candidate sites to host the CV-22 Osprey, an air-force variant of the MV-22 Osprey.
The U.S. reportedly plans to choose a base by the beginning of 2014 and deploy around 10 CV-22s there in the summer of 2015.
