Ready or not, Japan wants to buy the Pentagon’s controversial Osprey aircraft

[Aepsilons]

OSPREY V-22 Landing on a Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force Helicopter Carrier, the JS Hyuga

 

[F-22Raptor]

Nice pics!

 

[Aepsilons]

Nice pics!

Thank You. Let me reiterate how much I really love this craft, and most Japanese military forum members in other sites share my excitement. I can see the 17 the JMSDF is to purchase as just the "first batch" of purchases. The JMSDF should have anywhere around 70-100 of these in our inventory.

PS. Modesty aside, United States Military technology is, truly, above par. Truly.

 

[F-22Raptor]

Thank You. Let me reiterate how much I really love this craft, and most Japanese military forum members in other sites share my excitement. I can see the 17 the JMSDF is to purchase as just the "first batch" of purchases. The JMSDF should have anywhere around 70-100 of these in our inventory.

PS. Modesty aside, United States Military technology is, truly, above par. Truly.

It's definitely an aircraft to be excited over!

 

[Aepsilons]

It's definitely an aircraft to be excited over!

We are exceedingly satisfied. And we will be deploying them , outfitting them with necessary Anti-Submarine, Anti-Ship, and Anti-Air capabilities. They will be deployed to key zones within Japan's Vast Maritime Domain.

They will be, as expected, an indispensable part of the JMSDF's air fleet.


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Defense of Nansei Islands should be reinforced with Osprey deployment in Saga

The Yomiuri Shimbun


Creating an environment for the new aircraft to show its high transport capabilities during emergencies is important for purposes such as disaster response and urgent medical transportation, let alone the defense of remote islands.

The Defense Ministry has asked the Saga prefectural government to accept its plan to deploy at Saga Airport the MV-22 Osprey transport aircraft, which the Ground Self-Defense Force plans to introduce starting next fiscal year. The ministry plans to have all 17 Ospreys deployed at the airport from fiscal 2019.

To reinforce the defense of the Nansei Islands, including the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, the GSDF plans to establish by fiscal 2018 an amphibious mobile unit modeled after the U.S. Marine Corps. The task force will be mainly comprised of an infantry regiment stationed in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, and tasked exclusively with defending remote islands. The Osprey will be assigned to transport the unit’s personnel.

Saga Airport, which is under the administration of the Saga prefectural government, is located about 60 kilometers from Sasebo and is on the sea. The deployment of the Ospreys is reasonable in terms of allowing for a prompt response to a contingency in the Nansei Islands.

The Osprey combines the vertical takeoff and landing capabilities of a helicopter and the high-speed flight of a fixed-wing aircraft. Compared to a U.S. Marine Corps CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter, the Osprey can fly about twice as fast and carry three times the load, boasting about four times the radius of action.

The aircraft, which can freely take off and land on a remote island with no runway, is expected to be highly effective in life-saving operations and transportation of supplies in the event of a disaster.

After a powerful typhoon wreaked havoc on the Philippines last November, Ospreys were promptly deployed by U.S. forces for a rescue operation.

Unfair reputation for danger

There has been widespread misunderstanding that the Osprey is an extremely unsafe aircraft. Yet its actual rate of accidents is lower than the average for U.S. military aircraft as a whole. It can be said that the Osprey is safer than other aircraft.

The Air Self-Defense Force’s Komaki Base, which uses a runway of Nagoya Airport, managed by the Aichi prefectural government, is an example of a civilian airport, under the administration of a local government, used jointly by the Self-Defense Forces. The ministry has earmarked in fiscal 2014 budget runway usage fees totaling about ¥940 million to be paid to the prefecture.

Saga Airport, which has not been used as originally expected, continues to struggle with expenditures about three times greater than its revenues. The shared use of the airport with the SDF, which will require coordination of opinions with such entities as local fisheries cooperatives, can be considered a realistic option.

The central government must provide a thorough explanation of the Osprey’s safety to win understanding of the Saga prefectural government and other organizations concerned.

The ministry has also told the Saga prefectural government that Saga Airport may temporarily host the U.S. Marine Corps’ Ospreys, currently deployed at Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture.

The Japanese and U.S. governments plan to hold flight drills of the U.S. forces’ Ospreys at various locations in Japan, in a bid to reduce Okinawa Prefecture’s heavy burden of hosting U.S. bases.

Having local governments on Honshu and elsewhere share the burden of hosting the bases with Okinawa is quite important for making the Japan-U.S. alliance a more sustainable one and for having local governments assume the costs of maintaining the peace and security of the nation more fairly. We believe the Saga prefectural government is fully aware of that significance.


Defense of Nansei Islands should be reinforced with Osprey deployment in Saga - The Japan News