U.S. Army helicopter crews will train at a Japanese civil airport

The U.S. forces have announced that they will carry out low-altitude flight exercises on October 29 with three helicopters designed for special operations of the U.S. Army in South Korea in a civil airport of Fukue City in Nagasaki Prefecture.

Civil airports are excluded from facilities and sites the Japanese government is required to provide to the U.S. forces according to the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement.

The Nagasaki governor and the Fukue mayor are calling for the cancellation of the exercises due to growing criticism among the local citizens.

The three helicopters of the U.S. Army in South Korea will conduct night low-pass practice in Fukue Airport on their way from the U.S. Fukue Tegu in South Korea to the U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa.

A city assembly member of the Japanese Communist Party who is in charge of base problems pointed out the danger by saying, "Helicopters for special operations were used in the U.S. retaliatory war on Afghanistan, and had accidents involving crashes in Okinawa."

The JCP local committee and the JCP local assembly members' group on October 28 made representations to the Fukue mayor to refuse the exercises in the city. (end)