The first two V-22 Osprey aircraft bound for Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) units arrived in Japan at U.S. Marine Corps Air Station, Iwakuni.
The aircraft arrived aboard the MV Green Ridge, a transport ship chartered by the US Navy Military Command (MSC) and was unloaded at the US Marine Air Force Station in Iwakuni (Picture source: USMC)
The V-22 Osprey is a joint service multirole combat aircraft utilizing tiltrotor technology to combine the vertical performance of a helicopter with the speed and range of a fixed-wing aircraft. With its rotors in vertical position, it can take off, land and hover like a helicopter. Once airborne, it can convert to a turboprop airplane capable of high-speed, high-altitude flight.
Japan ordered the first five Ospreys for the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force in July 2015 for $332 million.
The aircraft arrived aboard the MV Green Ridge, a transport ship chartered by the US Navy Military Command (MSC) and was unloaded at the US Marine Air Force Station in Iwakuni. The unloading of the V-22s in Iwakuni marked the first time that a JGSDF V-22 arrived on Japanese soil.
The purchase of V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft is part of a larger push of the JSDF to improve its amphibious and naval warfare capabilities (Picture source: USMC)
