Japan hates the MV-22 Osprey

[Sidewinder]

U.S. Ospreys Arrive in Japan Amid Protests

Jul. 23, 2012 - 09:07AM
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

TOKYO — The U.S. military’s Osprey aircraft arrived in Japan on July 23 as residents rallied against their deployment after recent crashes raised safety concerns.

Live television footage showed the MV-22s being unloaded from a cargo ship at the U.S. Marine base in Iwakuni, Japan.

Local protesters in a dozen small boats demonstrated against the controversial aircraft’s arrival, chanting, “We don’t want the dangerous Osprey!” and “Osprey, go back to America.”

The demonstration against the unloading of the 12 aircraft would continue throughout the day, protest organizer Kiyoshi Oka told AFP by telephone.

Although local governments in Japan have no legal grounds to reject the U.S. deployment plan, strong local resentment — particularly in Okinawa, where the aircraft will be based — could further erode public support for the government of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

The U.S. military plans to fully deploy Osprey aircraft to Okinawa in October, while the governor of the island chain has denounced the U.S. plan because of safety concerns.

Following checkups at Iwakuni, the aircraft is destined for the Marine Corps airbase of Futenma in Okinawa, which has been at the center of a long-running standoff as it sits in a developing urban area.

A separate rally was held outside the Futenma base July 23, with protesters holding banners that read, “We are opposed to deployment,” Jiji Press reported.

Okinawa hosts around half of the U.S.’s 47,000 troops in Japan, angering islanders there.

Concerns over the Osprey came after the two countries clinched a deal earlier this year under which the U.S. will shift 9,000 Marines out of Japan in a step designed to ease friction with Tokyo over the U.S. military footprint.

The Osprey is a hybrid aircraft with rotors that allow it to take off like a helicopter and engines that can tilt forward, enabling it to fly like an airplane at greater speed than a chopper.

The aircraft was plagued with problems in its early years in the 1990s, but U.S. officials say the technical glitches have been cleared up, and the U.S. Marine Corps says it has proved invaluable.

A U.S. Air Force CV-22 Osprey crashed in Florida in June, injuring all five crew members. U.S. officials said the accident was not due to mechanical problem.

In April, an MV-22 Osprey, the variant that arrived in Japan, crashed in Morocco, killing two Marines.

The mayor of Iwakuni and three members of Noda’s Democratic Party of Japan have also voiced their opposition to the Osprey deployment.

The deployment of the Osprey “is a vital component in fulfilling the United States’ commitment to provide for the defense of Japan and to help maintain peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region,” the U.S. Embassy in Japan said in a statement issued July 23. “The United States and Japan have agreed that U.S. forces in Japan will refrain from any flight operations of the MV-22 in Japan until the results of investigations into recent incidents in Morocco and Florida are presented.”

The probe results are expected to be delivered to Tokyo officials by August, the embassy said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura, the government's top spokesman, told reporters July 23 that “we will make utmost efforts in obtaining understanding” from local residents on the Osprey deployment by providing information on U.S. probes into the latest accidents.

Japanese Defence Minister Satoshi Morimoto said Japan will send an investigative team to Washington.

I wonder about the accident rate for US military aircraft based in Japan. Is it unusually high, compared to... say, JSDF aircraft? Barring incidents that occurred during WW2, have there been incidents in which US military aircraft crashed into Japanese residential areas, inflicting civilian casualties?

[Todeswind]

Japan isn't happy about ANYTHING the US military does in Japan. The US military is more or less the "default issue" Japanese politicians turn to when they need something to complain about. Its a safe issue to complain about because they can grandstand as much as they want without having any actual expectations of changing what is going on because they have no direct control over the matter and it allows them to unify people against an outside threat already inside their borders.

They're going to bitch and moan till people get bored of it, then things will go back to business as usual.

[Sea Skimmer]

A helicopter did crash onto some university campus on Okinawa in the 1990s, which raised a big stink but hurt nobody but its own crew. Much opposition though goes all the way back to a 1959 incident in which an F-100 crashed into a school, killing 17 but injuring over 200.

Right now though the locals on the island would protest the dispatch of a new garbage truck. This isn't about logic or details really, they also heavily complain about US troops committing crimes when they in fact do so at a fraction of the rate of Japanese citizens on the island, which already has a low crime rate, its about just wanting the US gone. For that matter more then a bit of opposition exists to even the level of Japanese military presence on the island which is fairly high, and higher then it once was as many air defense sites have been transferred from American to Japanese manning.

Okinawan does hosts an immensely disproportionate amount of the US military presence in Japan; but the island had plenty of open space when all these bases were first built in WW2, its not like anyone intended to plop them down in the middle of urban areas as they now are. Meanwhile the relocation plan would basically make the island bigger via landfill in a hilly area, but that is immensely unpopular, and the US removing a third of its troops isn't good enough for them. But since the Japanese government is completely incapable of deciding anything on anything, let alone when it has a disaster recovery to mismanage, a better plan isn't likely to appear and everything is on hold now except that certain US Marine corps units will leave.

[Aaron MkII]

What are the guys there for? Close to Asian hot spots? Handy tropical training?

[DarkArk]

What are the guys there for? Close to Asian hot spots? Handy tropical training?

US being obligated by Japan's constitution to defend it. Which is why I find the Japanese protests so ironic, because according to their peace constitution they shouldn't have any military. Fact is they do.

Also North Korea. I think it was after the N. Korean nuclear test, or the sinking of the S. Korean warship forget which, a marine base that was going to be closed was kept open. Fact is the Japanese government is terrified of N. Korea and so likes having the US able to respond quickly.

[Sea Skimmer]

US being obligated by Japan's constitution to defend it. Which is why I find the Japanese protests so ironic, because according to their peace constitution they shouldn't have any military. Fact is they do.

No of course not! Just the most heavily armed police ever! But actually the status of the Self Defense Force is pretty controversial in its own right, or at least it was until the North Korean nuclear tests and 2011 earthquake which pretty much finished off serious opposition. Even at the peak of North Korean and Soviet antics in the cold war approval of the existence of the force was hardly 60%. Now its over 90%.

Also North Korea. I think it was after the N. Korean nuclear test, or the sinking of the S. Korean warship forget which, a marine base that was going to be closed was kept open. Fact is the Japanese government is terrified of N. Korea and so likes having the US able to respond quickly.

North Korean fun times have had not had exact specific effect on the plans, but its certainly been a strong background issue. What has happened is Japan changes governments constantly, some fell specifically over this issue, and certain prime minsters have gone back and forth on if they support building a new base on Okinawa or not. Basically, the US and Japan have both agreed that the USMC air base at Futenma should close for years. The US wants a replacement base in the north of the island, which is all hills and has few people (none of whom like the idea). Japan has gone back and forth on if it supports this. Until recently the US refused to remove any troops from Okinawa (unless Japan says you all leave, which they never will) without a firm plan for the future status of US forces on Okinawa. Finally last year the US decided we will go ahead will removing troops, mainly to Gaum and some to Australia without a plan, but Futenma stays open until we have it. So this new V-22 squadron is going to Futenma and will remain indefinitely, and the locals hate this.

Various proposals exist for shuffling US forces without blowing up coral reefs to build a new northern base, but none are any good. One idea was to take USAF jets out of the much larger Kadena air base and send them to Gaum and give the place to the USMC. The problem is those jets are most of the fighters that defend the island, so they'd either have to be replaced by more self defense force jets, which are already overtaxed, or the whole position becomes much much weaker which isnt very acceptable to anyone. Meanwhile lots of local opposition exists to Kadena too, which is highly unrealistic since at the least it would still be needed by the SDF. Another idea is sending the Marines to one of those artificial island airports in the Inland Sea, which are underutilized for civilian traffic, but this would mean the Marine ground troops and marine aircraft are based hundreds of miles apart. Also unrealistic. Another plan was to put the aircraft on one of the small islands near Okinawa, but locals hate it, and it would still be a huge training problem.

But this is Japan, and absurd things can happen. One need look no further then the best airport ever, Narita International, which has houses in-between the taxiways protected by blast walls and a half completed runway because people refused to sell the land... for forty years, in protest. No eminent domain in Japan.

Also worth noting that a good number of exclusively SDF air bases are located in just as absurdly densely populated areas as Kadena and Futenma as are a number of Japan's civilian airports, so in reality while Okinawa does host a lot of US forces, plenty of other Japanese communities put up with the exact same damn thing.

[Zinegata]

Close to Asian hot spots?

Pretty much. The South Koreans and us would rather not wait a week for US troops to intervene in case North Korea or China do something crazy.

[DarkArk]

Just the most heavily armed police ever!

Had fun with that when doing my research for my capstone paper on China's navy. Whether the Hyuga-class helicopter carriers and the new one that Japan is building should count as potential aircraft carriers or not when doing force compositions. But of course they're not aircraft carriers! The Japanese government insists that all ships are arrayed purely in a defensive role! To put an F-35B on one would then make it an offensive weapon! Japanese government PR is almost as good as China's.

for forty years, in protest.

Even better was when the farmers were trying to build various towers so that the airplanes couldn't even use the airport. Probably under the idea that Haneda could accommodate all of Tokyo.

Also worth noting that a good number of exclusively SDF air bases are located in just as absurdly densely populated areas as Kadena and Futenma as are a number of Japan's civilian airports, so in reality while Okinawa does host a lot of US forces, plenty of other Japanese communities put up with the exact same damn thing.

Reality is Japan ran out of land sometime in the 70s or earlier. It's so damn crowded that building anything new is going to require tearing something else down or inconveniencing people. Really Hokkaido makes the most sense, but that's way far away from where the troops need to be. Also the locals hate it .

[Sea Skimmer]

The Japanese have been very timid about buying actual offensive weapons to drop from aircraft to be fair. It took them several years of debate just to decide it was acceptable to buy several hundred JDAM kits, because previously all guided air to surface weapons had been bought purely for suitability as anti ship weapons to fend off invasion. Eventually they seem to have concluded that having an ability to precision bomb North Korean rocket launch pads counted as defensive, allowing JDAM.

Hyuga is not really suitable for F-35B, only the aft elevator is actually big enough to transport it which would create serious operational problems, and the deck would have surely been squared off had STOVL operations been even a vague paper requirement. One can also point out that placing Tomahawk cruise missiles on the Kongo class destroyers would give Japan a huge amount of offensive capability, but they haven't done that either. I forget if any of the other Japanese ships with Mk41 launchers have the strike length version or not.

Now, Japan is currently building a a bigger version of Hyuga which is nearly 50% larger, making them destroyers the size of a 1913 dreadnought, and its been claimed that the design does have a greatly revised elevator and deck design that would be good for STOVL, as well as just generally being a lot more satisfactory size for that sort of role, but it remains to be seen what they'll really look like. For the moment Japan has only F-35A on order, and at least part of the reason for the enlargement is for amphibious warfare which has always been a part of the SDF to some degree. We'll see what happens. Japan has serious military budget pressures as it is, and all else aside funding F-35Bs would be a problem anytime soon.