Two U.S. military KC-130 air refueling tankers arrived Tuesday at the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture in the first transfer under a bilateral agreement to reduce the burden on Okinawa of hosting U.S. bases.
The long-delayed transfer will bring a total of 15 KC-130s to Iwakuni by the end of August, along with approximately 870 U.S. military personnel and their family members, according to the Iwakuni air station. It is the first time U.S. units have been moved from Okinawa to another area in Japan.
The U.S. military has said it will fly the KC-130s based in Iwakuni to Okinawa to conduct exercises in coordination with U.S. Marines there as necessary, throwing into question how much the step will actually help reduce the burden of the military presence in Okinawa, home to the bulk of U.S. bases in Japan.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed to cut Okinawa’s burden and pledged financial support, while ensuring a replacement facility will be built to relocate the Futenma base within the prefecture despite staunch local opposition to the move.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the KC-130 transfer is “proof that Okinawa’s burden has been steadily reduced,” telling reporters that the adminstration will continue to make further efforts.
Located around 300 km from South Korea’s Busan, the Iwakuni base is considered strategically important given the nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.
Currently, 53 military aircraft, including FA-18 Hornets, are deployed at Iwakuni, with 59 carrier-based aircraft to be moved there from the U.S. Navy’s Atsugi base in Kanagawa Prefecture around 2017.
Iwakuni has also become a hub for the MV-22 Osprey transport aircraft, which has a checkered safety record that remains a source of concern for residents in areas around U.S. bases.
Including the first batch of 12 Ospreys that arrived in Iwakuni in 2012 before their deployment to the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa, the U.S. military in Japan now operates 24 of the tilt-rotor aircraft.
An MV-22 Osprey flew to Atsugi on Tuesday to transport U.S. military personnel, the first flight to the Tokyo metropolitan area, before heading to Camp Fuji in Shizuoka Prefecture.
The mayors of Ayase and Yamato, cities in Kanagawa Prefecture that host the Atsugi base, had urged the U.S. military to cancel the flight, citing safety concerns. Outside the base, anti-military groups protested the first arrival of the Osprey and monitored the noise level.
To reduce training in Okinawa, Abe has said the government will call on the United States to conduct half of the exercises using Ospreys outside the prefecture.
Two Ospreys that will be displayed at an aviation event in Hokkaido are expected to stop at Yokota Air Base in Tokyo on Saturday for refueling.
Tokyo and Washington agreed on the transfer of the KC-130s in 1996, a year after anti-military sentiment spiked due to the rape of a schoolgirl by U.S. servicemen in Okinawa.
The Iwakuni Municipal Government has repeatedly said the transfer of the KC-130s and the relocation of the Futenma base in Okinawa should be linked if Japan and the United States are to relieve some of the burden on Okinawa Prefecture.
The local government in Iwakuni decided to accept the KC-130 transfer just a week before Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima approved the start of landfill work in late December, a step necessary to move Futenma to a less-populated area.
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