A U.S. Osprey military aircraft carrying eight passengers went down off the coast of Japan. Japan’s coast guard was cited by Japanese media in their report on the incident, which occurred on Wednesday near Yakushima Island.

A spokesman told AFP, “We received information at 2:47 pm today that the U.S. military’s Osprey crashed off Yakushima Island.” The airplane, according to locals, had fire shooting from its left engine before it crashed into the water.

The southernmost main island of Japan, Kyushu, is located south of the island of Yakushima.

U.S. crash in Australia in August

Earlier in August, another Osprey crashed in northern Australia, killing three US marines among 23 on board. The Boeing MV-22B Osprey crashed on Melville Island, north of Darwin during a military exercise for locally based troops.

As part of a regular military drill, three U.S. Marines were transporting personnel when their aircraft crashed off the coast of northern Australia, according to officials

According to a press release from Marine Rotation Force – Darwin, five more people were “transported to Royal Darwin Hospital in serious condition”.

As per the statement, they were among the 23 Marines on board the downed MV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft when it crashed, and the cause of the incident was being looked into.

Anthony Albanese, the prime minister of Australia, described the event as “tragic” and stated that the Osprey was aiding the military drill known as Exercise Predators Run 2023. According to him, there were no Australians hurt in the collision.

The prime minister stated during a prearranged news conference in Western Australia, “Our focus as a government and as a department of defense is very much on incident response and on making sure that every support and assistance is given at this difficult time.”

Participating in the exercises were about 2,500 personnel from Australia, the United States, the Philippines, Indonesia, and East Timor.

In response to China’s growing assertiveness, the United States and Australia, a significant ally in the Pacific, have increased their military cooperation in recent years.

“For over a century, Australian and US soldiers have stood side by side,” declared Albanese along with Defense Minister Richard Marles in a statement.

U.S. Crashes In Norway

During NATO training operations in Norway last year, an MV-22B Osprey aircraft went down, killing four US Marines. Comparably, in 2017 when attempting to land at sea off the coast of Australia, an Osprey crashed and clipped the back of a transport ship, killing three Marines. When their Osprey crashed in 2000 during drills in Arizona, up to 19 Marines lost their lives.

The U.S. Navy, the Japan Self Defense Forces, and the U.S. Marines all operate tilt-rotor aircraft, which can fly like a fixed-wing or helicopter.

Critics claim the hybrid aircraft is prone to accidents, which has made the Osprey’s deployment in Japan contentious. Both Japan and the US military declare it safe.

In December 2016, another crashed-landed in the seas near the southern island of Okinawa in Japan, causing the aircraft to be temporarily grounded by the US military.

U.S. Osprey Aircraft

The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is an American tilt rotor military aircraft capable of both short takeoff and landing (STOL) and vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL). Its design combines the long-range, high-speed cruising capability of a turboprop aircraft with the utility of a conventional helicopter.

In 2000, the USMC started preparing its crew members for the MV-22B Osprey, which they fielded in 2007 as a replacement for their Boeing Vertol CH-46 Sea Knights. 2009 saw the United States Air Force (USAF) deploy the CV-22B tilt rotor.

The Osprey has been involved in transportation and medevac operations over Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Kuwait since it entered service with the Marine Corps and Air Force. In 2021, the U.S. Navy started doing carrier onboard delivery operations using the CMV-22B.