Japan’s Okinawa drops opposition to hosting crash-prone US Osprey aircraft
Okinawa Governor Genta Koja said on Friday he accepts the deployment of US military MV-22 Osprey transport aircraft at the Futenma air station, reversing the southern Japan prefecture’s long-standing opposition to their presence. Previous prefectural governments, under governors critical of US bases, had opposed the deployment of the tilt-rotor aircraft since before they were first stationed at…
Okinawa Governor Genta Koja recently reversed his previous opposition to hosting US military MV-22 Osprey transport aircraft at the Futenma air station. Koja, who assumed office as governor of Okinawa only last month, supports the relocation plan to move the base from the densely populated Ginowan to the coastal Henoko area in Nago.
Koja stated that the long-standing safety concerns over the Osprey aircraft have not been resolved, and he wants their safety thoroughly confirmed. Despite the aircraft's crash history both in Japan and abroad, Koja supports the plan to relocate the base as part of his support for the Liberal Democratic Party's ruling government.
In November 2023, an US Air Force CV-22 Osprey crashed into the sea near Yakushima Island in Kagoshima prefecture, killing all eight crew members. Earlier in 2016, an MV-22 belonging to the Futenma base crash-landed off Nago.
Written by urgent.news from South China Morning Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
