Marine Corps Air Station Futenma

MCAS Futenma
MCAS Futenma logo
IATA: none – ICAO: ROTM
Summary
Airport type		Military
Operator		United States Marine Corps
Location		Okinawa, Japan
Built		1945
In use		1945 - present
Commander		Col. James Flynn
Occupants		1st Marine Aircraft Wing
Elevation AMSL		246 ft / 75 m
Coordinates		26°16′15″N 127°44′53″E / 26.27083°N 127.74806°E / 26.27083; 127.74806Coordinates: 26°16′15″N 127°44′53″E / 26.27083°N 127.74806°E / 26.27083; 127.74806
Website		Marine Corps Air Station Futenma
Map
ROTM Location in Japan
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
06/24A	2,740	8,990	Asphalt/Concrete
Sources: Official site[1] Japanese AIP at AIS Japan[2]

Marine Corps Air Station Futenma or MCAS Futenma (ICAO: ROTM) is a United States Marine Corps base located in Ginowan, 5 NM (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) northeast^[2]A of Naha, on the island of Okinawa. It is home to approximately 4,000 Marines of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing and has been a U.S. military airbase since the island was occupied following the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. Marine Corps pilots and aircrew are assigned to the base for training and providing air support to other land-based Marines in Okinawa.

The base includes a 2,740 by 45 m (8,990 by 148 ft)^[2]A runway as well as extensive barracks, administrative and logistical facilities. The air station is tasked with operating a variety of fixed and rotary-wing aircraft in support of the III Marine Expeditionary Force. The base is also used as a United Nations air facility.

History

Futenma Airfield was constructed by the US military following the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. It was built partly on the ruins of the villages of Aragusuku, Ginowan, Kiyuna and Isa, and entirely over the village of Kamiyama and surrounding farmland. According to Ginowan City records, the joint population of what was then Ginowan Village (now Ginowan City) was 12,994 in 1944. It was initially allocated for Eighth Air Force use to station B-29 Superfortress strategic bombers in the planned Invasion of Japan. With the end of the war, the airfield became a United States Air Force Far East Air Force installation known as Futenma Air Base, and was used as a support airfield for the nearby Kadena Air Base, hosting fighter-interceptor squadrons as part of the air defense of the Ryukyu Islands. The base was transferred to the United States Navy on 30 June 1957 and was subsequently developed into a major United States Marine Corps air station.^[3][4]

Location

MCAS Futenma is situated in the center of Ginowan City (pop. 91,000). The air station covers approximately 480 hectares (1,200 acres), about one quarter of the area of Ginowan City, and includes a 2,740 by 45 m (8,990 by 148 ft)^[2]A runway.^[5]

Local concerns

Due to its urban location, concerns surrounding training flights over residential areas causing noise, air pollution and endangering public safety have become controversial issues in Ginowan City. Safety concerns were intensified after the August 2004 crash of a Marine Corps CH-53D transport helicopter into Okinawa International University. Three crew members were injured, but there were no injuries on the ground.^[6] Public concern with crime related to the presence of US military on Okinawa rose in 1995 when three American servicemembers raped a 12-year-old Okinawan girl.^[7]

In December 1996, the Japanese and U.S. governments decided that the Futenma base should be relocated to an off-shore location in Henoko Bay in Nago, northern Okinawa.^[8] This was and remains a controversial decision, since the projected site involved construction on a coral reef and seagrass beds which are the habitat of the dugong, an endangered marine mammal protected under Japanese and U.S. law.^[9] In a referendum conducted later the same year, a vast majority (over 80%) of Nago residents voted against the Henoko plan. However, shortly afterward, they elected a mayor who campaigned on a platform of accepting the new facility. In March, 2006, a new mayor was elected on a similar platform, getting more votes than his two anti-relocation opponents combined.^[10]

Even so, opinion remained divided between those who view the 'relocation' plan as a recipe for development in the northern part of the island, and others who consider it more likely to lead to the destruction of what remains of Okinawa's sub-tropical forests and undegraded coastal reefs.

Current relocation plan

On 26 October 2005, the governments of the United States and Japan agreed to move the relocation site for Futenma from the reef area off Henoko to the interior and coastal portions of the existing Marine infantry base at Camp Schwab, just a few hundred meters away from the offshore facility.^[11][12] The cited reason for the change is to reduce the engineering challenge associated with building a runway on reefs in deep water: experts estimate that rather than the 15-plus years required to construct a new airbase at the previous reef location, the new Camp Schwab plan will enable Futenma to be relocated within 6–8 years.^[13] These plans were also accelerated when a CH-53D Sea Stallion transport helicopter attached to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit lost tail rotor authority and spiraled into a local college building.

Reaction to the new plan for Futenma's relocation has been widespread in Okinawa. However, the newly-elected mayor of Nago (which hosts Camp Schwab) formally agreed to accept the relocation when he signed an agreement with Defense Minister Nukaga on 8 April 2006.^[14] Mayor Shimabukuro was later joined by all five of the major mayors of northern Okinawa. Although some all-Okinawa public opinion polls indicate that many Okinawans have reservations about the latest plan, residents of northern Okinawa have recently elected and re-elected leaders who have publicly accepted it. In fact, all 12 mayors of northern Okinawa have publicly accepted the new relocation plan. In this respect, the Futenma issue exposes a range of conflicting opinions among Okinawans: from those who maintain that military facilities and associated public works infrastructure benefit the island's economy; environmentalists, and those who either object or are critical to the U.S. military presence on ideological grounds or on rooted sentiments.^[13][15][16] Susumu Inamine (稲嶺進) the new mayor of Nago city as of January 24, 2010 is against the relocation plan and agrees to move Futenma outside of Okinawa.^[17] Besides the local assembly of Nago voting against the relocation plan, the prefectural assembly of Okinawa also formally asked the prime minister to move the base out of the prefecture.^[18] On May 17, 2010 (the anniversary of the reversion of Okinawa to Japan) people from Okinawa formed a "human chain" around the whole base with estimated 17,000 people taking part.^[19] This was the fifth time such an action took place.^[20]

In 2009, amid controversy throughout Japan over the relocation of the base, Osaka Prefecture governor Toru Hashimoto publicly proposed moving the base's functions to Osaka's Kansai International Airport (which is on an artificial island), remarking that "the burden [of bases on Okinawa] should be spread more evenly throughout Japan."^[21]

In 2011, the chairman and ranking member of the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services called for an alternative plan where Futenma aircraft would move to Kadena Air Base while the current aircraft at Kadena would move to Andersen Air Force Base.^[22]

Tenant commands

• Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron^[23]
• Marine Aircraft Group 36
• Marine Air Control Group 18

See also

	Military of the United States portal
	United States Marine Corps portal
	World War II portal

• Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler
• List of United States Marine Corps installations
• List of airports in Japan
• USAAF in Okinawa

Footnotes

A.^ The text version gives a runway 2,740 by 45 m (8,990 by 148 ft)^[2] and the aerodrome chart gives 9,000 by 150 ft (2,743 by 46 m)

Notes

1. ^ MCAS Futenma, official website, retrieved 12 November 2007
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} AIS Japan
3. ^ USAF Historical Research Agency Document 00219137
4. ^ USAF Historical Research Agency documents for Futenma Air Base
5. ^ Global Security website.
6. ^ Takahashi 2004.
7. ^ (2010, January 16–22). The new battle of Okinawa. The Economist, 394, 43-44.
8. ^ "The SACO Final Report on Futenma Air Station". SACO Final Report. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (MOFA). 2 December 1996. http://www.infojapan.org/region/n-america/us/security/96saco2.html. Retrieved 24 July 2004. ^{[dead link]}
9. ^ Egelko, Bob (5 August 2004). "Imperiled mammal threatened by plan for Okinawa base, Court in S.F. hears activists advocate applying U.S. law". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/08/05/BAGDU82Q961.DTL. Retrieved 24 July 2006. 
10. ^ "Residents vote 'No' to heliport - Japanese report". BBC News. 21 December 1997. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/monitoring/41556.stm. Retrieved 24 July 2006. 
11. ^ ABC News, 26 October 2005.
12. ^ BBC News, 26 October 2005.
13. ^ ^{a b} Allen, David and Chiyomi Sumida, "Futenma questions and answers", Stars and Stripes, November 27, 2009.
14. ^ Allen, David and Chiyomi Sumida (16 April 2006). "No accord yet on who pays to move Marines to Guam" (reprint in Leatherneck). Stars and Stripes. http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28666. Retrieved 26 February 2008. 
15. ^ Sief, Linda, (Reuters) "Q+A-Japan-U.S. base feud hits nerve ahead of Obama visit", Forbes, 25 October 2009.
16. ^ "Thousands of Japanese protest U.S. base plan", Reuters, 8 November 2009.
17. ^ Kim, Dong-Jin (25 January 2010). "日 오키나와현 나고시장, 美기지 현외 이전파 당선" (in Korean). Segye Ilbo. http://www.segye.com/Articles/News/International/Article.asp?aid=20100125000030&ctg1=04&ctg2=00&subctg1=04&subctg2=00&cid=0101040400000. Retrieved 27 January 2010. 
18. ^ David Allen, "Okinawa assembly to formally ask for Futenma base to move off the island", Stars and Stripes Online Edition, Thursday, February 25, 2010
19. ^ David Allen and Chiyomi Sumida, "Okinawans encircle U.S. base", Stars and Stripes Pacific edition, Tuesday, May 18, 2010
20. ^ "'Human chain' around Futenma base", The Asahi Shimbun English Online Edition, Monday, May 17, 2010
21. ^ Will the U.S. Marines charge ashore at Kansai airport?, Japan Today
22. ^ "Accountability report cites higher buildup cost; U.S. senators push alternative plan." Pacific Daily News, 26 May 2011.
23. ^ Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Marine Corps. This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

• MCAS Futenma's official website
• Futenma Marine Corps Air Station at GlobalSecurity.org
• Joseph Coleman, Associated Press writer (26 October 2005). ""U.S. Agrees to Relocate Base on Okinawa"". ABC News. http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1251169. Retrieved 26 October 2005. ^{[dead link]}
• "US agrees Okinawa air base move". BBC News. 26 October 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4377350.stm. Retrieved 26 October 2005. 
• Kosuke Takahashi (9 September 2004). "On Okinawa, trouble at home base". Asia Times Online. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/FI09Dh05.html. Retrieved 17 May 2005. 
• James Brooke (13 September 2004). "A crash and the scent of pizzatocracy, anger Okinawans". Jiji Press/AFP/New York Times. http://www.caabuk.plus.com/articles2004-3/2004-09-13Okinawa.htm. Retrieved 24 July 2006. 
• Kosuke Takahashi (14 November 2009). "Japan: A new battle over Okinawa". Asia Times Online. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/KK14Dh01.html. 
• Kosuke Takahashi (15 January 2011). "Japan: Gates changes stripes on Okinawa". Asia Times Online. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/MA15Dh01.html. 
• Kosuke Takahashi (12 March 2011). "Japan: Scandals strain US-Japan relations". Asia Times Online. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/MC12Dh01.html. 
• Kosuke Takahashi (21 May 2011). "Futenma: Time on Okinawa's side". Asia Times Online. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/ME21Dh01.html. 

External links

• Research the Battle of Okinawa Here
• Current weather for ROTM at NOAA/NWS
• Relocation plan
  • Obama asks Hatoyama 'Can you follow through?' on base issue 18 April 2010 (Kyodo News)