Japan plans to suspend its own Osprey flights after a U.S. Air Force Osprey based in Japan crashed into waters off the southern coast during a training mission, officials said Thursday. Tokyo has also asked the U.S. military to stop all Ospreys operating in Japan except for those searching for victims of crash. A senior Defense Ministry official, Taro Yamato, told a parliamentary hearing that Japan plans to suspend flights of Ospreys for the time being, but there were few other immediate details.
Rescuers scoured waters off Japan on Thursday for seven missing US Air Force personnel whose Osprey crashed during a training exercise, in the latest incident involving the tilt-rotor military aircraft.US Air Force Special Operations Command said eight crew had been aboard the CV-22B Osprey as it performed "a routine training mission" out of Yokota Air Base in Japan.
Japan announced Thursday it was suspending all nonemergency Osprey flights after one of the hybrid aircraft crashed off the southwestern coast this week and killed at least one U.S. service member. Japan’s chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a Thursday press briefing the suspension was effective until more information was available about the crash.…