The United States may not send Air Force CV-22s to Japan after all.
The Pentagon recently clarified remarks Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said regarding deploying CV-22s to Japan. Defense Department spokesman George Little said recently in a statement that decision is years away. Donley said the Air Force planned to send CV-22 tilt-rotor aircraft to Japan, but didn’t provide specifics on where, or when, they would be sent.
“Any deployment of the Air Force CV-22 to the Asia-Pacific region is years away and no construction has begun to support such a deployment,” Little said. “The CV-22 is a Special Operations variant of the Osprey. As a Special Operations platform, the demands for this capability are fluid and constantly changing to react to world events. The United States has not notified the government of Japan about the CV-22 because we have not made a basing decision.”
Japan was hesitant to allow V-22s to be based in the country after a pair of crashes, which the Pentagon blamed on pilot error.