Japan Press Weekly

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2023 December 6 - 12 [US FORCES]

JCP Policy Commission Chair: Ospreys should be removed, not just grounded

Following the crash of the CV-22 Osprey off Kagoshima’s Yakushima Island a week earlier, the U.S. military on December 6 announced that it will ground all of its Osprey V-22 aircraft.

The Air Force Special Operations Command, which operates CV-22s, said that the result of a primary investigation of the fatal crash off Yakushima indicates that a “potential material failure” caused the accident, admitting to the possibility that the body of the crashed CV-22 experienced some kind of malfunction.

Japanese Communist Party Policy Commission Chair Tamura Tomoko on December 8 at a press conference in the Diet building commented on the U.S. military’s announcement, and pointed out, “The U.S. forces decided to halt the flight of all Ospreys because the latest accident was possibly caused by a structural defect.”

Tamura stressed that the JCP has long criticized U.S. Ospreys as structurally defective and opposed the deployment of such a dangerous aircraft to Japan. She said, “The JCP again demands the removal of all Ospreys from Japan.”

Furthermore, criticizing the Japanese government’s response to the fatal crash, Tamura pointed out that the government only urged the U.S. side to confirm the flight safety of Osprey aircraft before resuming their flights and did not request the suspension of flights. In addition, she noted that the Japanese government handed over the wreckage of the crashed plane to the U.S. military without conducting an independent investigation, and condemned the government’s subservient attitude to the U.S. military.

Past related article:
> US Osprey crashes into waters off Kagoshima, first fatal accident in Japan [November 30 & December 1, 2023]