TOKYO, Aug 28 (KUNA) -- The Japanese government has asked Washington to quickly provide information about a recent hard landing by a US Marines' Osprey transport aircraft in Nevada, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday. "We asked for prompt information on the incident, including the cause of the emergency landing," the top government spokesman told a press conference.
According to media reports, MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft made what investigators called a hard landing near Creech Air Force Base in the US state of Nevada during a training flight on Monday. Four crew members on board escaped injury.
The emergency landing came amid strong opposition in the southern Japanese prefecture of Okinawa to US Marine Corps' additional deployment of controversial Osprey aircraft.
The Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that can take off like a helicopter and fly like a plane. The plane crashed during a military drills in Morocco and the US state of Florida last year, fueling concern among Okinawa residents over its safety.
The US deployed 12 Ospreys last year and another 12 this month at Okinawa's Marine Corps Futenma Air Station, which is surrounded by residential areas, to replace aging CH-46 helicopters by 2014. 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.(end) mk.wsa KUNA 281110 Aug 13NNNN