U.S. grounds Osprey aircraft in Japan
after Okinawa crash
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[December 14, 2016]
TOKYO (Reuters) - The United States
military on Wednesday grounded its tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey aircraft in
Japan after Tokyo called for a halt to flights following a crash
southwest of Okinawa island, the first accident involving the aircraft
in the Asian nation.
The aircraft has become a lightning rod for opposition to the U.S.
military presence in Okinawa, with local groups seeking the closure of
American bases saying it is prone to crash and poses a danger to
residents.
A U.S.-operated Osprey ditched into the sea on Tuesday, injuring its
crew of five after a hose connected to the aircraft broke during a
refueling exercise.
Images of the scene aired by Japan's public broadcaster NHK showed the
aircraft broke into several pieces in waters close to the coast.
"No flights in Japan are planned today," said a U.S. Marine Corps
spokesman in Okinawa. The U.S. military was still investigating the
cause of the crash, which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe described as
"regrettable" on Wednesday.
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The Osprey, built by Boeing Co <BA.N> and Textron Inc's <TXT.N> Bell
Helicopter and designed to take off like a helicopter and rotate its
propellers to fly like a plane, has suffered a series of incidents in
other parts of the world prior to the crash in Okinawa.
The United States says it has two Osprey squadrons in Japan, although it
does not disclose the precise number of aircraft. A squadron typically
comprises between 12 to 24 aircraft.
"We regret the accident, but we do not regret the work of our young
pilots," Lieutenant General Lawrence D. Nicholson, the USMC commander on
Okinawa, told a news briefing on the island broadcast by NHK.
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![](../images/121416pics/news_u37.jpg)
U.S. military personnel investigate the wreckage of a U.S. Marine
Corps MV-22 Osprey aircraft that crash-landed in the sea off Nago,
in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo
December 14, 2016. Kyodo/via REUTERS
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The first Osprey crash in Japan could further delay plans to
relocate some U.S. forces on the island and comes amid a surge in
resentment over U.S. bases after an American civilian working for
the military was arrested this year over the murder of a 20-year-old
Japanese woman.
Okinawa, which was under U.S. occupation until 1972, hosts the bulk
of the approximately 50,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan.
(Reporting by Tim Kelly, Kaori Kaneko and Nobuhiro Kubo; Editing by
Clarence Fernandez)
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