WASHINGTON (Kyodo) The U.S. Marine Corps plans to begin deploying MV-22 Osprey aircraft, which can take off like a helicopter but cruise like an airplane, in place of older helicopters in Okinawa in fiscal 2013, which begins Oct. 1, 2012, a U.S. Defense Department official said Wednesday.
The marines had originally planned the deployment for 2007 or 2008, but faced strong opposition in Japan due to safety concerns about the Osprey, which has been involved in several fatal crashes.
The new schedule is part of an alternative plan agreed to last October by Japan and the United States to relocate the U.S. Marines Futenma Air Station to an airfield to be built in and off the coast at Camp Schwab in Nago, Okinawa.