TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Kyodo) -- The U.S. government has told Japan there is no change in its plan to deploy the MV-22 Osprey aircraft at a U.S. military base in Okinawa Prefecture in August, sources close to the matter said Saturday, amid concerns over safety following two recent crashes involving the military transport aircraft. The U.S. government has judged that an accident in Morocco in April and another in Florida earlier this month were not caused by problems with the aircraft, the sources said. The United States plans to deploy the Osprey aircraft at the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa in August after bringing them to the Marine Corps' Iwakuni Air Station in Yamaguchi Prefecture in late July for safety checks and trial flights. In Okinawa, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda told Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima on Saturday that the government will explain the deployment in a responsible manner, according to prefectural government officials. Noda visited Okinawa to attend a memorial service for the war dead on the 67th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa, a World War II ground battle. Source; The Coming Crisis
