12 August, 2017
"We understand that USA forces have explained that it is possible for Ospreys to make safe flights", the ministry said in a statement.
The Defense Ministry said Friday it will allow the US military to fly Ospreys in Japan, accepting USA assurances that the tilt-rotor aircraft is safe despite a fatal crash off the coast of Australia last week.
The order, released Friday by Marine Commandant Gen. Robert Neller, comes just days after the second deadly aircraft crash in less than a month.
The U.S. side says the accident occurred in a complex situation in which the aircraft was trying to land on a U.S. military ship, according to the ministry.
On Aug. 5, an MV-22 Osprey carrying 26 personnel crashed off Queensland, Australia, shortly after launching from an amphibious assault ship.
The US Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey aircraft, which was based at an airbase in Japan, crashed on Saturday while on exercises off the Australian coast, leaving three service members missing and presumed dead.
According to a United States official, the Osprey crashed after clipping the back of the USS Green Bay while trying to land on the amphibious transport ship.
The aircraft left the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and are heading for the Misawa Air Base in the northern Aomori prefecture, the Kyodo news agency reported.
The Osprey is a tilt-rotor aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter but flies like an airplane.
Already this year, there have been 11 Marine Corps Class A aviation mishaps, indicating incidents in which $2 million or more in damage was sustained.
The Osprey - which has two engines positioned on fixed wingtips that allow it to land and take off vertically - has also been involved in a number of fatal incidents in the USA, including a crash in Arizona in 2000 which killed 19 Marines.
