The crash of a U.S. Air Force helicopter inside an Okinawa military installation Monday amid local opposition to the deployment of tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey aircraft at a U.S. Marine Corps base on the main island has put Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government on the spot.

Despite the central government's swift request that helicopters of the type involved in the accident, in which one of the four-member crew was believed killed, be grounded until the cause of the crash is identified, local sentiment against the U.S. military presence and operations in the prefecture appears to be hardening.

Officials in Tokyo are concerned that the accident will delay the deployment of additional MV-22 combat troop carriers at Air Station Futenma in Ginowan and affect the planned construction of a new marine airfield in a coastal area on the island.