Japan Welcomes U.S. Decision to Ground Entire Fleet of Osprey Aircraft

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:45 JST, December 7, 2023

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno welcomed the announcement by U.S. forces to ground its entire fleet of Osprey aircraft, saying at a press conference Thursday morning, “Ensuring flight safety is the top priority.”

He added that Japan will ask the United States to share information on the investigation into the cause of last week’s deadly Osprey crash off Yakushima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture.

Japan had demanded that all kinds of Osprey be grounded after the incident, but the U.S. forces only grounded CV-22 Osprey, the model that was involved in the crash. The U.S. forces have six CV-22 Ospreys at the Yokota Air Base in Tokyo and 24 MV-22 Ospreys at the Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture.

US Military Grounds Entire Fleet of Osprey Aircraft Following a Deadly Crash Off the Coast of Japan