Japan’s Defense Ministry announced that its fleet of MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft temporarily stationed at the Ground Self-Defense Force’s Kisarazu base in Chiba Prefecture will begin relocating to the new Saga base on Jul. 9th, with the transfer expected to be completed by mid-August.
陸上自衛隊, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Defense Ministry’s North Kanto Defense Bureau Chief Hirohisa Mori informed Kisarazu Mayor Yoshikuni Watanabe of the relocation plan during a visit on Apr. 15.
While the temporary deployment officially ends on Jul. 9, some Ospreys will remain at Kisarazu for maintenance purposes. The city agreed to this arrangement after receiving assurances that only maintenance test flights over the sea would be conducted, with no training flights taking place at the facility.
The first Osprey arrived at Kisarazu on Jul. 10, 2020, under a five-year temporary deployment agreement. The aircraft were originally scheduled for deployment at the Saga base, but delays in negotiations with local fishing cooperatives pushed back construction at that site.
Kisarazu has served as a joint Japan-US maintenance center for Ospreys since January 2017. Even after all 17 aircraft are relocated, the Kisarazu facility will continue to receive Osprey aircraft periodically for regular maintenance.
Mayor Watanabe stated, “We will continue to monitor the operation of Osprey and other Self-Defense Force aircraft and work on base countermeasures.”
Akira Nonaka from the citizens’ group “No Ospreys Needed Residents Association” noted, “They’ve only left Kisarazu. The maintenance center remains, so we must consider Saga’s situation as well while exploring new approaches to our movement.”
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