The mayor of a city in western Japan’s Yamaguchi prefecture said Tuesday he would accept the deployment of the U.S. Navy’s Osprey variant, despite ongoing safety concerns about the tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
The U.S. military’s deployment of the CMV-22 at Iwakuni Base will be its first deployment in Japan. MV-22s, the variant used by the Marine Corps, are based at Futenma Air Base in Okinawa, while CV-22s used by the U.S. Air Force operate from Yokota Base in the western suburbs of Tokyo.
The CMV-22s will serve as replacement aircraft for a US aircraft carrier, along with the state-of-the-art F-35C stealth fighter jets. The changeover will take place at the same time as the US Navy’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan is withdrawing from Japan and will be replaced by the carrier George Washington.
File photo taken on May 23, 2024 shows a U.S. Navy CMV-22 Osprey at the U.S. Air Force’s Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture. (Kyodo)
“I am confident that the operation will be safe. I agree with the exchange of the aircraft,” Iwakuni Mayor Yoshihiko Fukuda told a city meeting, adding that the safety of the aircraft had been confirmed by both the Japanese government and the US side.
Fukuda also said that the environment at U.S. Marine Air Station Iwakuni, including noise levels, is not expected to change significantly because the number of aircraft will be reduced by about 10 after the replacement.
In Tokyo, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said at a press conference that he was grateful to the mayor for agreeing to the deployment.
The development came after the central government informed Iwakuni and Yamaguchi Prefecture in July of the US plan to station CMV-22s in the city. The approval of local governments is not required for the deployment.
Ospreys can take off and land like a helicopter and fly like an airplane. However, accidents and mishaps still occur both in Japan and abroad.
Iwakuni Mayor Yoshihiko Fukuda (front) speaks at a town meeting in Yamaguchi Prefecture on Aug. 27, 2024, expressing the western Japanese city’s intention to accept the stationing of U.S. Navy Ospreys at the U.S. military base in Iwakuni. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
In November, a US Air Force CV-22 crashed into the sea near Yakushima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture in southwestern Japan, killing all eight crew members in the deadliest Osprey incident since it entered service in 2007.
The US military grounded all Osprey aircraft worldwide in December, but lifted the flight ban in March before details of the cause of the accident were known. The Japanese Self-Defense Forces also temporarily stopped operating their Ospreys.
Earlier this month, the US Air Force concluded in its investigation report that the incident was due to a transmission failure and faulty decisions in response to the malfunction during a routine exercise.
After the accident, the Japanese government informed the city of Iwakuni that the Osprey had no structural defect.
Related coverage:
US investigations find fatal Osprey crash in Japan was caused by transmission failure
US Air Force resumes Osprey flights in Japan after fatal crash in November
