Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2006Kyodo News
Japan and the United States agreed Monday to place aircraft approach lights only at the seaward-most ends of the two runways planned for the U.S. Marine Corps Camp Schwab near the city of Nago, government sources said.
The move is aimed at keeping the aircraft traffic pattern away from populated areas.
Photo: Approach lights will only extend off the seaward-most ends of the two runways planned for the U.S. Marine Corps Camp Schwab in Okinawa, thus off the lower end of the left leg of the V and the upper end of the right leg.The accord was reached after Japan rejected a U.S. request for approach lights extending from both ends of both 1,800-meter runways, which are to be in a V configuration. However, U.S. military aircraft may have to fly over residential areas in emergencies.
Senior foreign and defense officials from the two countries worked out the agreement in a meeting Monday in Tokyo, the sources said.
Sources familiar with the trans-Pacific relationship said last month that the U.S. had requested that its military aircraft be allowed to land or take off using both directions of both runways. Tokyo rejected the request, they said.
The runways will straddle the tip of Cape Henoko and extend offshore on both ends.
They are to be built at Schwab as a replacement for the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma farther south in the city of Ginowan.
Japan, which wants to limit approach routes, rejected the U.S. request because allowing four approach routes would conflict with the central government's promise to local authorities to keep the flight paths away from residential areas.
In April, the Defense Agency struck a deal with Nago and four towns and villages in the vicinity to build two runways in a V pattern, with the seaward-most ends extending approximately northeast and east-northeast into Oura Bay.
The airport is to be built by 2014 and is not to be used by fighter planes.
The Futenma and marine relocations in Okinawa are key elements of a comprehensive package of measures to step up integration of Japanese and U.S. forces as part of Washington's military reorganization.
The dispute between Okinawa and the central government over the Futenma relocation has dragged on for a decade as it involves a complex mixture of factors, including noise and safety issues, local sentiments and environmental concerns.
Deal done: Lawless
A visiting U.S. defense official implied Tuesday that Okinawa is unlikely to get a response from the United States on its demands to change the plan for moving the Futenma air base in Ginowan.
"We do not get involved in the discussions between the local community and the central government," Richard Lawless, the deputy defense undersecretary for Asia and Pacific affairs, said.
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