Japan is preparing to stand up its first amphibious infantry unit this month but the plan to have troops securing its southern islands is facing difficulties as local governments are not keen to host the MV-22 Osprey in their prefectures.
By U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Ryan Kierkegaard, 1st Marine Division Combat Camera/Released [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
The unit will be assigned to JGSDF’s Camp Ainoura in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture and the Ospreys will be located at Saga airport, 60 km away. The Marines will rely on the MV-22 to rapidly deploy to defend the southern outlying islands.
Initially, the Saga prefecture government was willing to support the plan. However, a series of incidents involving the Osprey has dampened its enthusiasm. The final straw was the recent crash of a JASDF AH-64D which killed two crew members and destroyed a house.
The land that the central government had planned to acquire in Saga for the Osprey belongs to a fishermen cooperative and they have yet to agree to a sale of their property.