US Marines may ground air fleet after latest crash
WASHINGTON: The US Marine Corps may ground its entire air fleet for a safety review following the crash of an Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft in Australia that killed three Marines, a defense official said Monday.
The Japan-based Marine MV-22 Osprey crashed Saturday during an exercise off the Australian coast, leaving three service members missing and presumed dead.
“We are looking at our options in terms of reviewing safety across the Marine Corps fleet at the moment ... pending an acrosstheboard safety review,” a US defence official told AFP, noting that the grounding could affect all flying squads in the service.
US officials are also weighing a request by Japan’s new defence minister, who told the US military on Monday of his ‘many concerns’ after it flew an Osprey in Japan following the crash.
Itsunori Onodera, appointed Thursday as Japan’s defence minister, asked the US to temporarily stop flying the aircraft in his country following the accident.
“We have still many concerns,” Onodera said during a meeting with Major General Charles Chiarotti, deputy commander of US Forces in Japan, according to a defense ministry spokesman.
Japanese media said the fl ight took place on the southern island of Okinawa, where a squadron of Ospreys is stationed at the US Marines’ Futenma base.
Chiarotti told Onodera the flight was necessary for operational reasons and that its safety was confi rmed, according to Japan’s defence ministry.
Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis did not say whether the Marines would honour Tokyo’s request but stressed that safety was a paramount concern.
“We always take the safety of all our operations, not just with MV-22s, very seriously and we recognise that we are guests of the government of Japan,” Davis said.
“I would also say that these are forces ... that are there specifically for the defence of Japan and for furthering our shared security,” he added. — AFP