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2012 September 26 - October 2 TOP3 [US FORCES]

US forcibly deploys Ospreys to Futenma base in defiance of Japanese public opposition

Ignoring opposition from across Japan, the U.S. Marine Corps on October 1 carried out the deployment of 6 vertical takeoff and landing aircraft MV22 Ospreys to the Futenma base in Okinawa.

The 6 Ospreys out of a total of 12, which were temporarily based at the U.S. Marine Corps Iwakuni Air Station (Yamaguchi Pref.), flew over residential areas, hospitals, and schools to move from Iwakuni to the Futenma base. The aircraft during their flight engaged in all flight modes.

This proves that rules regarding Osprey’s operation agreed by the Japanese and U.S. governments mean nothing.

The rules stipulate that the aircraft have to fly above the sea in order to avoid flying over densely populated areas as much as possible and that use of the vertical takeoff and landing mode and changing from flight mode to cruising mode are strictly permitted within the base area.

In front of Gate 3 of the Futenma base, local government heads of the prefecture, prefectural assembly members, parliamentarians who were either elected or hailed from Okinawa, and citizens waged a protest action from early in the morning on the same day.

The Okinawa Prefectural Assembly adopted an urgent resolution also on the same day protesting against the deployment and demanding removal of the aircraft from the base.

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi later on the same day at a press conference said, “It is outrageous that the world’s most dangerous and defective aircraft have been deployed to the most dangerous base in the world for nearby residents under the Japanese government’s irresponsible ‘safety declaration’.”

Ichida went on to say, “The aim of this deployment is to allow the transport of more U.S. Marines, whose mission are to engage in first attack and kill people, to other countries even more quickly than now. This obviously has no relation to the defense of Japan. Together with Okinawans and people throughout the nation, the JCP will work hard to strengthen the struggle against the deployment and low-altitude flight training of the aircraft.”

On the previous day, about 1,200 Iwakuni citizens held a rally to oppose the transfer of the Ospreys to the Futenma.

As of September 28, 106 municipalities in 23 prefectures adopted statements calling for withdrawal of the Osprey deployment and cancellation of the aircraft’s low-altitude flight training plans.