US to Station 400 Airmen, Personnel at Yokota in 2017 Osprey Deployment
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The US Air Force will station 400 airmen and civilian personnel at the Yokota Air Base in Tokyo along with the planned deployment of the CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft from 2017.
The figure was revealed by Foreign and Defense ministry officials at a meeting Friday with representatives of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and other related municipalities, a metro government official said. It was the second meeting of its kind, after one Tuesday.
The 400 personnel apparently include aircraft maintenance workers.
Washington plans to deploy 10 of the US Air Force’s version of the advanced aircraft, three in the second half of 2017 and an additional seven by 2021.
The officials from the ministries explained that the Yokota base had been selected after comprehensive consideration of operational and training needs, Jiji reported.
They said the locations for the aircraft’s nighttime low-altitude flight training have not been decided yet, according to metropolitan government officials. “No clear-cut answers were provided to our questions,” a senior metro government official added.
