(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Japanese Defense Minister Nakatani said Tuesday that Washington will continue flight operations of US Marines' controversial Osprey aircraft despite a deadly crash of in Hawaii on weekend.
"The US side told us that there is no reason to question whether there are fundamental flaws in the design of the aircraft. The US also said there is no reason to suspend normal operations," Nakatani said at the Diplomacy and Defense Committee of the Upper house.
Nakatani made remarks after MV-22 Osprey transport aircraft crash-landed in Hawaii on Sunday, killing one person and injuring 21. The crash has renewed concern among residents in the southern Japanese prefecture of Okinawa over the safety of Ospreys.
Washington has deployed 24 Ospreys at Okinawa's Marine Corps Futenma Air Station, which is surrounded by residential areas. The accident also came following the announcement by US Air Force last week about the new deployment of 10 CV-22 Osprey planes at Tokyo's Yokota Airbase from 2017.
Nakatani told a press conference that the Japanese government also confirms the safety of the aircraft itself. "We asked the US to quickly provide us with information on the accident," the minister said.
The the tilt-rotor Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that can take off like a helicopter and fly like a plane. A US Marine from the crew of Osprey was killed over Arabian Gulf in an accident last year. The plane also crashed during a military drills in Morocco and the US state of Florida in 2012.
On Monday, Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga said he will demand suspension of Osprey flights until the cause of the accident is clarified. Despite strong sentiment toward the US military presence on the island prefecture, about 75 percent of all US military facilities in the country are located in Okinawa, some 1,500 km south of Tokyo.
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