U.S. to Deploy Navy Ospreys at Iwakuni Base

Jiji Press

18:16 JST, July 15, 2024

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — U.S. forces in Japan said Monday that CMV-22 Osprey transport aircraft of the Navy will be deployed at the Iwakuni base in Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan.

This will mark the first CMV-22 Osprey deployment at the base in the city of Iwakuni and the first Navy Osprey deployment in Japan. The move is aimed at strengthening the deterrent power at a time when China is stepping up hegemonic behavior in the Indo-Pacific region.

The CMV-22 Ospreys will replace C-2 transport planes currently stationed at the Iwakuni base.

The United States will also deploy F-35C state-of-the-art carrier-based stealth fighter jets at Iwakuni.

In Japan, the U.S. military has so far deployed Marine Corps Ospreys at the Futenma air station in the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa and Air Force Ospreys at the Yokota base in Tokyo.

The U.S. military had grounded its Ospreys around the world following the fatal crash of an Air Force Osprey off the island of Yakushima in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, last November.

In Japan, Osprey flights were resumed in March this year, drawing ire from local communities concerned in the Asian nation.

The U.S. military said in a statement that the current security environment in the Indo-Pacific requires the U.S. Navy to station most capable aircraft and ships forward.