Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2013 January 9 - 15 [SDF]

DM will request budget for Osprey research expenses

The Defense Ministry on January 10 inserted eight million yen for Osprey-related research expenses into its budget request for the next fiscal year, apparently with a view to purchasing Ospreys.

Following the deployment of Ospreys to a U.S. base in Okinawa, the ministry is allegedly seeking to purchase some for the Self-Defense Forces.

The aircraft in question are said to be structurally defective with two crashes last year alone. The ministry in its budget request dared not to use the name “Osprey” and instead referred to it as “tilt-rotor aircraft”.

Unlike normal helicopters, Ospreys can fly faster and longer. Thus, opinions calling for the introduction of the aircraft to the SDF have already existed for the defense of Japan’s Southwest Islands since the previous government. One Osprey costs about 10 billion yen, inevitably increasing the country’s military spending if allowed.

Besides, Ospreys are useless in disaster rescue and relief activities because of their fierce downwash.