The Pentagon will lift its ban on flights of the grounded Osprey V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft next week, The Associated Press reported Friday, nearly three months after a deadly accident involving the aircraft off Kagoshima Prefecture.
It was not immediately clear if Japan would follow suit, after the Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) also halted all flights of its Ospreys following the Nov. 29 crash into waters near Kagoshima’s Yakushima island that left eight U.S. airmen dead.
The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, which grounded the controversial aircraft on Dec. 7, will allow military services to begin putting in place their plans to return the Osprey to the skies, the report said, citing unidentified U.S. officials.