US Ospreys join joint drill in Japan amid safety concerns

A US military Osprey aircraft took part in a drill in Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido on Friday, despite concerns about the planes' safety history.

The MV-22 tilt-rotor military aircraft took part in the drill being held by the Japanese Ground Self-Defence Force (GSDF) and the US Marine Corps, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Osprey taking part in the drill marks the first time the aircraft has been used in a joint exercise between Japan and the US since one of the planes based at the Marine Corps base in Okinawa crashed in waters off Australia earlier this month.

The crash killed three US Marines and prompted the Japanese government to request the US military to ground the planes to further investigate their safety.

The US Marine Corps said the Ospreys were safe to be flown following an investigation, much to the consternation of Okinawa citizens.

The decision was officially backed by the Japanese government, adding to the worries of Okinawans who host the bulk of US forces in Japan.

They have voiced concerns about the Japanese government bending to the US military's wishes, despite fears for their own safety from US base-linked accidents, pollution and crimes by US service personnel.

Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera on Tuesday said six Ospreys, that can take off and land like a helicopter and rotate their turboprop-powered blades forward and fly like a regular plane, would join the exercise.

The exercise comprises 1,300 GSDF personnel and 2,000 US troops. The Defence Ministry said some of the drills would involve the Ospreys flying at night.

Fears resurfaced about the safety of the Ospreys following one of the notorious planes making an emergency landing in Okinawa in June.

Concern and panic widened in Okinawa, particularly, and Japan in general, following the crash landing of an Osprey in waters off Nago, near the US Marine Corps' Camp Schwab last December.

The incident, which saw five crew members airlifted to safety and then subsequently treated for injuries, involved an MV-22 Osprey making a "shallow landing", according to the US military accounts.

The crash marked the first major accident involving an Osprey since its deployment in Japan in 2012 and had Okinawan officials vehemently call for the planes to be permanently withdrawn from Japan.

Prior to these accidents, Ospreys have been involved in multiple crashes around the world leading to numerous fatalities, dating back to the plane's developmental phase in 2000.

The US military has more than 20 MV-22s deployed at the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa, which is central to a relocation spat between Okinawa and Tokyo.

Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga expressed his dissatisfaction at the government on Monday for allowing the accident-prone Osprey aircraft to fly in Japan just days after the fatal crash off the coast of Australia.

Onaga in a meeting with Onodera said Japan backing the US decision for the tilt-rotor planes to be flown here was not in the interests of its people.

--IANS

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