An MV-22 Osprey transport
aircraft appeared in the sky over Oshima, an island just off the coast
of Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture. The Osprey from the U.S. Marine Corps’
Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture was taking part in the
Michinoku Alert 2014 drill, an exercise designed to help practice the
response needed should the island become cut off due to a massive
earthquake. After the Osprey dropped off water and blankets, two people
playing the roles of patients seriously injured in an ensuing tsunami
were loaded onto the aircraft and transported to a Ground Self-Defense
Force facility in Sendai.
Several hundred island residents came to catch a glimpse of the tilt-rotor Osprey on that day.
“I was really grateful that the U.S. military quickly came to help us
after the island was isolated following the quake disaster,” said a
74-year-old man whose home was swept away by the March 11, 2011,
tsunami. “I hope they will conduct all the exercises they need to do,
after ensuring their aircraft are safe to operate.”
One year has
passed since joint Japan-U.S. exercises using Ospreys started as part of
efforts to reduce the burden shouldered by Okinawa Prefecture, which
hosts the bulk of U.S. military forces based in Japan. A growing number
of local governments on the main islands of Japan have indicated a
willingness to accept exercises involving Ospreys, and residents’
resistance to the aircraft flying in their skies appears to be gradually
fading. Despite this, the government will need to carefully explain the
importance of operating the Osprey to cement acceptance of and support
for the aircraft.
The
first joint exercise involving Osprey on the main islands was held at
the GSDF’s Aibano Training Area in Shiga Prefecture in October 2013.
Many civilians came to observe the aircraft displayed at an air show
held in Sapporo in July, and at an air review ceremony held at Hyakuri
Air Base in Ibaraki Prefecture in October. Last month in Wakayama
Prefecture, Osprey took part for the first time in a disaster exercise
organized by a local government.
“Every time an Osprey flies over
the main islands, the burden on Okinawa should be reduced,” a senior
Defense Ministry official said.
No tangible effect yet
The
government has been pushing ahead with carrying out Osprey exercises
over the main islands because it believes Okinawa Prefecture is bearing
too great a burden by hosting 74 percent of U.S. military facilities in
Japan. As well as moving these exercises to other areas, the Japanese
and U.S. governments will transfer all 15 KC-130 air refueling tankers
from Futenma to the U.S. Marine Corps’ Iwakuni Air Station in Yamaguchi
Prefecture.
Local governments around Japan have started to
discuss whether they will be able to help reduce Okinawa’s burden. In
June, the village assembly of Shinto, Gunma Prefecture, which is home to
the GSDF’s 12th Brigade, passed a resolution stating it “would accept
training and other exercises involving Osprey aircraft if it contributes
to easing the burden” shouldered by Okinawa Prefecture. Other
municipalities that have adopted similar resolutions include Iwakuni
city and the town of Suo-Oshima in Yamaguchi Prefecture, and the town of
Shintomi in Miyazaki Prefecture.
According to a senior Defense
Ministry official, Osprey “will fly in the skies above the main islands
about two times a month.”
A 63-year-old woman who operates a
real estate agency near the Futenma base doubts whether this will have
much impact. “The aircraft have recently been conducting night flights
above residential areas, which I have at times felt were dangerous,” the
woman said. “I appreciate the government’s stance of calling for local
governments on the main islands to accept more exercises, but I still
don’t feel that the number of flights here has decreased.”
Info not being passed on
The Defense Ministry plans to introduce 17 Ospreys into the SDF from
fiscal 2015, and is considering deploying them at Saga Airport in Saga
Prefecture. The government also has decided to offer the GSDF’s Kisarazu
base in Chiba Prefecture as a maintenance site for U.S. military
Ospreys. Given these developments, flights by Japanese and U.S. Ospreys
over the main Japanese islands are certain to increase in the years
ahead.
However, concerns over the safety and noise pollution
generated by the aircraft remain deep-rooted in these areas. After the
U.S. military notifies the Defense Ministry about movements of its
Ospreys, this information is passed on to local governments concerned,
but many details are not revealed to the public. To reinforce support
for the Ospreys, the government will need to explain more carefully
about the aircraft.
Question marks also remain about the
willingness of the U.S. military to disclose information. One aircraft
that took off from the Atsugi Air Base in Kanagawa Prefecture on Nov. 7
to join the Michinoku Alert exercise had to turn back to base. The SDF
inquired as to why the aircraft returned to Atsugi, but reportedly did
not receive a proper explanation from the U.S. military.
A senior Defense Ministry official suggested such information had not always been readily forthcoming from Japan’s ally.
“The U.S. side has a strong tendency to want to conceal flight
information about the aircraft, so we will need to press it more
strongly to disclose such details,” the official said.
