Photo/Illutration A U.S. Osprey transport aircraft flies near the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Dec. 1. (Taro Ono)

A U.S. Pentagon official tried to clear the air of an apparent misunderstanding between Tokyo and Washington over flights of tilt-motor Osprey aircraft following the first fatal crash of one in Japan on Nov. 29.

Japanese officials said Dec. 1 that requests had been made with U.S. officials through various channels to suspend Osprey flights until the cause of the accident was identified and safety concerns were addressed.

Sabrina Singh, deputy press secretary for the U.S. Defense Department, released a statement the same day that said, “The unit of the CV-22 that had the accident is not conducting flight operations.”

At her news conference the previous day, Singh said the Pentagon had not received any official request from the Japanese government for the suspension of Osprey flights.

But the Dec. 1 statement said, “All V22 Ospreys in Japan operate only after undergoing thorough maintenance and safety checks.”

While the CV-22 Osprey is operated by the U.S. Air Force, the MV-22 aircraft is used by the U.S. Marine Corps based in Japan.

The statement added: “The safety of our service members and Japanese communities is a top priority for the United States. The United States is taking all appropriate safety measures, as we do for every flight and every operation.”

Due to the large number of Osprey based in Okinawa, the prefectural government on Dec. 1 asked the foreign and defense ministries to pass on to U.S. officials a request that all Osprey flights be suspended until the safety of the aircraft could be confirmed.

The apparent misunderstanding between the two governments may have arisen from the ambiguous wording used by Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Defense Ministry Minoru Kihara on Nov. 30 when conveying their concerns to U.S. officials.

The ministers asked that Osprey flights, with the exception of those used for search-and-rescue missions, be suspended. That wording made it seem that flights could continue under certain conditions.

Defense Ministry officials said they had confirmed 52 take-offs and landings of the MV-22 Osprey at U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and Kadena Air Base, both in Okinawa, between the time of the initial request to suspend flights and 6 p.m. on Dec. 1.

To placate concerns that the two governments were not on the same page, the Dec. 1 Defense Department statement said, “We have already started sharing information about the accident with our Japanese partners, and have pledged to continue to do so in a timely and transparent manner.”

The statement concluded with, “The United States extends our sincere gratitude to the Japanese Coast Guard, Self-Defense forces, and local communities, including fisherman, for their search and rescue efforts.”

But with the U.S. military actively moving to search for the seven missing crew members of the crashed Osprey, further cooperation by Japanese agencies may become limited due in large part to the restraints of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement.

In the meantime, the Kagoshima prefectural government said Dec. 2 it had approved a request from the U.S. military to allow two MV-22 Osprey to use Amami Airport for search-and-rescue missions for the crashed Osprey until Dec. 3.

(This article was compiled from reports by Kayoko Geji in Washington and Nobuhiko Tajima and Anri Takahashi in Tokyo.)

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