Many Obstacles Ahead to Materialize Hashimoto’s Proposal to US Marine Corps
5 June 2013
from various reports,
Following
an abrupt statement by Tooru Hashimoto, controversial Mayor of Osaka,
to welcome to accept U.S. Marine Corps vertical transport aircraft MV-22
Ospreys to a general aviation airport called Yao in Osaka for a part of
flight training missions, Tokyo moves to study comprehensively its
feasibility. Hashimoto’s plans immediately invited an opposition from
the mayor of Yao City to accept military missions to its civil airport.
Accordingly the central government would study the plans carefully as it
has three-fold drawbacks in refuelling, hangers and flight/training
environments.
Mr. Hashimoto will meet Yoshihide Suga, Chief Cabinet Secretary to make his proposal officially on June 6.
Marine
Corps’ MV-22 Ospreys are stationed in Futenma Air Station where there
is virtually no gap between dense housing area and local citizens claim
Ospreys are symbolizing too much concentration of US military
installations in small Okinawa prefecture. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met
Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima of Okinawa in last February to tell the governor
that the governement wished to work hard to relocate Osprey drills to
outside of Okinawa as much as possible.
Even
though relocation of US bases outside Okinawa has been a poetical
promise over the years, there has been no local governments to accept
installations within their premises fearing troubles and protesting
citizens.
Yao,
a suburb of Osaka, has a commuter and helicopter airport of small scale
but the airport is being surrounded by housing complex and obstructing
buildings at all directions.
A
Defense Ministry official said that Osprey’s refuelling, since this
SVTOL aircraft uses different fuel than light aircraft or helicopters,
calls for new facilities that will cost billions in Japanese yen. He
also points out there is no extra space in the tiny airport to house a
new hanger to accommodate Ospreys. How about Yao from a view point of
its suitability as training environment? If Yao turns out to be
unsuitable for training missions, the effect to reduce heavy
concentration of US military presence in Okinawa would be limited.
Marine
Corps is reportedly seeking flight training plans at more areas in
homeland Japan by securing refuelling and transit points as many as
possible. In the west, Marine Corps has its Iwakuni Air Station and it
maybe wants to prioritize a station in eastern side. Yao, Osaka is in
western part and closer to Iwakuni.
Yao is in Osaka Prefecture
Yao Airport (RJOY): 70ha, 09/27 1,490m x 45m, 13/31 1,200m x 30m
