TOKYO: U.S. Air Force CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft based at Yokota Air Base in Tokyo will take part in a Japan-U.S. defense exercise in the Kyushu region of southwestern Japan later this month, the Defense Ministry’s Ground Staff Office said Tuesday.

An Osprey of the same type crashed off the island of Yakushima in Kyushu’s Kagoshima Prefecture in November last year.

Osprey aircraft from the U.S. Marine Corps and Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force will also take part in the joint exercise.

The Resolute Dragon exercise, one of the largest between the GSDF and the Marine Corps, will start on July 28 to train for defending Japan’s remote islands.

During the exercise, CV-22 Osprey aircraft will fly from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan, to the Oyanohara training grounds in Kumamoto Prefecture and the Hijudai training grounds in Oita Prefecture.

JIJI Press