Iwakuni Mayor Yoshihiko Fukuda said Tuesday that his city will allow the deployment of the U.S. Navy’s CMV-22 Osprey transport aircraft to U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni.
Fukuda told a meeting of the municipal assembly in Yamaguchi Prefecture that the city judged that the deployment of the tilt-rotor plane would not have a large impact on the lives of people living near the base. It is the first stationing of the naval version of the Osprey in Japan.
The deployment, announced by U.S. Forces Japan in July as an upgrade of the current transport aircraft, is expected to begin later this year. The U.S. military will also station the F-35C Lightning II, the latest carrier-based stealth fighter, at the Iwakuni base.
Fukuda told reporters he plans to keep an eye on the operations of the Osprey to see whether its deployment affects citizens’ lives.
The Yamaguchi prefectural government will give its opinion on the deployment after consulting with the towns of Waki and Suooshima near the base.
Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said at a news conference in Tokyo that the deployment represents the “unshakable commitment” of the United States to the deterrence and response capabilities of the Japan-U.S. alliance. He expressed his appreciation of Fukuda’s approval of the plan.
The U.S. Marine Corps and Air Force currently deploy their own Osprey at Futenma Air Station in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, and Yokota Air Base in Tokyo, respectively.
The U.S. military gradually resumed operation of all Osprey models after they were grounded around the world after a CV-22 Osprey crashed off the island of Yakushima, Kagoshima Prefecture in November, killing all eight crew members.