Widow Maker Crushed Again

A sad news for United States Marine Corps and Okinawa came in from Australia on Saturday. A tilt-rotor aircraft, MV-22 Osprey, belonging to U.S. Marine in Okinawa crushed offshore Shoalwater Bay, Queensland, missing three crews. U.S. Marine deeply regretted losing three men. Okinawa was deeply shocked by the accident of already notorious aircraft, which the people want to remove from the island. What cannot be happened has happened.

It is reported that the Osprey was in a training drill off the coast of Australia. When it was approaching a transport dock ship, the Osprey slammed into the flight deck and slipped down into the water. Although most of 26 crews onboard were rescued, three members were missing and later confirmed to be dead. “The circumstances of the mishap are currently under investigation,” the immediate statement of U.S. Marine Camp Butler said.

It was something more than a mishap for Okinawa, anyway. Okinawa has been protesting the deployment of the aircraft dubbed as “widow maker” to U.S. Marine in Okinawa. When an Osprey crushed in offshore of Nago, Okinawa, last December, Marine announced it as “landing in shallow water.” But the body of Osprey was severely broken. The people in Okinawa have been more skeptical to official announcement of Marine.

Governor of Okinawa, Takeshi Onaga, looked like furious when he delivered a comment on the Osprey accident. “This is what has to be happening. Explanation of U.S. Force is not reliable anyhow,” told Onaga. “It could have happened here. It is not a story of a foreign country far away,” told a resident in Okinawa. Civil group in Chitose, Hokkaido, where military exercise with participation of Osprey was planned later this month, protested not to include Osprey in the drill.

Government of Japan requested U.S. Force in Japan not to fly Osprey in Japan. Minister of Defense, Itsunori Onodera, told that the Japanese government would require utmost care for safety and freezing the operation of Osprey until the incident would fully be explained. Unfortunate enough for Japan-U.S. cooperative relationship based on broad public consensus, U.S. Marine ignored the request and unilaterally restarted the flying of Osprey in Okinawa.

North Korea or China could see a small chink in Japan-U.S. alliance. As long as the widow-maker stay in Japan, protest against U.S. Force will not be ceased. It is the time for U.S. government to reconsider the cost performance of MV-22 Osprey in Okinawa.