Accidents keep happening! Okinawa Prefecture Refuses Osprey to Use Shin Ishigaki Airport for Training in Japan and the United States
The frequent accidents of the Osprey transport plane have caught many people off guard.
According to Kyodo News Agency, the Japan Ground Self Defense Force and the United States Marine Corps will conduct large-scale combat training in Kyushu and Okinawa in October, and plan to use the Ground Self Defense Force V-22 Osprey transport aircraft at the new Ishigaki Airport on Ishigaki Island in Okinawa Prefecture. In response, Okinawa Prefecture has requested the Japanese Ministry of Defense to abandon this plan on the 13th of this month, citing the continuous occurrence of accidents and malfunctions in the US military's "Osprey", which poses a risk of involving local residents in the accident. On the 14th, a citizen group in Oita Prefecture, Kyushu, also demanded that the central government of Japan suspend this training and called for a ban on "Osprey" transport planes flying at low altitudes in urban areas.
On the 15th, Japanese Defense Minister Toshio Kihara stated that "there are currently no plans to change plans, including the participation of the Ground Self Defense Force's Osprey." On the 14th of this month, four US Marine Corps Osprey transport planes deployed at the US Putenma Airport malfunctioned and made emergency landings at Amami Airport in Kagoshima Prefecture and Shinishikaki Airport in Okinawa Prefecture. On the 16th, another US military "Osprey" transport plane made an emergency landing at Oita Airport in Koto City, Oita Prefecture.