SAPPORO (Kyodo) -- Two U.S. military Osprey aircraft flew at night Monday as part an ongoing joint exercise conducted between the U.S. Marines and Japanese ground defense forces on the northernmost main island of Hokkaido, the Defense Ministry's local bureau said.
It is the first time for the tilt-rotor aircraft to conduct night-flight training during a Japan-U.S. drill, even as safety concerns linger among the Japanese public following a fatal crash of an Osprey off Australia on Aug. 5 and other accident records.
According to the Hokkaido Defense Bureau, two Ospreys flew above the Hokkaido-Dai Maneuver Area after leaving the U.S. military's Misawa Air Base in nearby Aomori Prefecture around 7 p.m. The aircraft returned to the base shortly after 8:40 p.m.
Ospreys have joined the exercise from Friday, after the Japanese government announced Aug. 11 it will give a green light to the resumption of their flights, accepting U.S. assurances that the aircraft is safe despite the crash off the coast of Australia.
Read the full story at The Mainichi