The Japanese Defense Ministry plans to build Osprey bases for the U.S. Marine Corps’ MV-22 aircraft at their own Self-Defense Forces facilities, allowing the tilt-rotor transport planes to undergo maintenance on the mainland after flight training, without returning to the Futenma air station in Okinawa.

The new facilities would make it easier to conduct drills using Ospreys throughout Japanese airspace, in line with the prefecture’s call to transfer Osprey-related flights elsewhere to reduce its base-hosting burden, the officials said.

Currently, 22 Ospreys are deployed in Japan, all at the Futenma base.

Read more at http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/12/01/national/more-facilities-for-ospreys-to-be-built/#.UpyiyYLahxM.