Yoshikazu Shirakawa / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
The centerpiece of the Hatoyama government's relocation plan for the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station is to divide its functions to multiple locations.
Under the plan, about 50 to 60 percent of the station's 60 helicopters will be moved to Tokunoshima island in Kagoshima Prefecture. The rest of the helicopter unit will be relocated to Camp Schwab in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, and elsewhere.
However, the U.S. government is unlikely to accept this plan because dividing Futenma's functions and facilities poses numerous problems for military operations.
According to sources close to the central government, the cornerstone of the Tokunoshima option is the existing 2,000-meter runway at Tokunoshima Airport, which extends along the island's northwestern coast.
The runway is long enough to accommodate the MV-22 Osprey, which the U.S. military plans to deploy in a few years. The multimission vertical takeoff and landing aircraft operates as both an airplane and helicopter. However, as Tokunoshima lacks the facility to house helicopters, it will be necessary to build hangars and parking aprons by reclaiming tidal land surrounding the runway.
As it stands, the plan also entails a more difficult problem--the 200 kilometer distance between Tokunoshima island and Okinawa Island. Any helicopter unit stationed in Tokunoshima will have to travel at least an hour one-way for joint training with the ground forces stationed in Okinawa Prefecture. Even using the more powerful Osprey, the journey will still take about 40 minutes one-way.
A U.S. military source said 20 to 30 minutes of one-way travel should be the limit for units to conduct ongoing joint training and deal with any emergencies.
During an interview, Lt. Gen. Keith Stalder, commander of the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific, compared the difficulty in separating the helicopter unit from the marine corps to a resident in Tokyo parking his car in Osaka.
In fact, anticipating such a response from the U.S. side, the Japanese government originally drafted a large-scale relocation plan, including barracks and a training area for ground personnel.
However, this plan was abandoned due to Tokunoshima's lack of space.
Some U.S. military members feel positive toward a Tokunoshima relocation because the island is close to the Korean Peninsula, making it easier for forces to cope with any contingencies there.
However, the U.S. side is unlikely to change its overall view that Okinawa Prefecture is the best location to keep watch on both the Taiwan Strait and the Korean Peninsula.
(Apr. 20, 2010)
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