An Air Force CV-22B Osprey of the 21st Special Operations Squadron, takes flight for the first time since November 2023 at Yokota Air Base, Japan, July 2, 2024. (Samantha White/U.S. Air Force)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — The U.S. Air Force has pulled a pair of CV-22 Osprey tiltrotors from drills involving U.S. Marines and Japanese troops in southern Japan later this month.
The helicopter-plane hybrids, which recently returned to the air after a lengthy grounding, were scheduled to participate in Exercise Resolute Dragon from July 28 to Aug. 7, a spokesman for the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force said by phone Friday morning. Some Japanese government officials are required to speak to the media only on condition of anonymity.
Two Ospreys from Yokota were expected to participate in anti-landing combat and logistics training during the exercise, he said.
However, the 21st Special Operations Squadron has withdrawn the aircraft from the drill, Capt. Emma Quirk, a spokesman for Yokota’s 374th Airlift Wing, said in an email Friday afternoon.
“The V-22 Osprey unit in question recently signaled their intent to focus on internal training requirements resulting in their withdrawal from participation in Exercise Resolute Dragon 24,” she said. “The safety of the flying crews and Japanese neighbors is the number one priority during flight operations, and units are focused on meticulous training and operational procedures as they return to flight.”
The Yokota Ospreys on July 2 began flying again, 216 days after one of them crashed off Japan’s southern coast, killing all eight airmen aboard.
The U.S. military grounded its fleet of about 400 Ospreys between Dec. 6 and March 8 as it investigated the Nov. 29 crash.
Marine Corps and Navy Ospreys have been flying for months but the fleet will not be permitted to fly its full range of missions until mid-2025, Vice Adm. Carl Chebi, who leads U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, told House lawmakers last month.
The Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force also resumed flying its tiltrotors in the spring. The Marines and Navy described their Ospreys’ return to flight as a phased-in approach; the Air Force did likewise.
Approximately 3,000 U.S. Marines and sailors will train alongside counterparts from Japan’s Western Army and other American and Japanese units during Resolute Dragon, according to a June 21 news release from III Marine Expeditionary Force.
During the exercise, the allies will “rehearse and strengthen their multi-domain maneuver capabilities and combined arms integration,” the statement said.
The annual exercise, now in its fourth iteration, will take place across multiple training areas in Japan in Chugoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa prefectures, according to the statement.
