Marine Corps Air Station Futenma
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| MCAS Futenma | |||
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| IATA: none – ICAO: ROTM | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Military | ||
| Operator | United States Marine Corps | ||
| Location | Okinawa, Japan | ||
| Built | 1945 | ||
| In use | 1945 - present | ||
| Commander | Col. Leo A. Falcam | ||
| Occupants | 1st Marine Aircraft Wing | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 247 ft / 75 m | ||
| Website | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 06/24 | 9,000 | 2,743 | Asphalt |
| Sources: Official site[1] and DAFIF [2][3] | |||
Marine Corps Air Station Futenma or MCAS Futenma (ICAO: ROTM) is a United States Marine Corps base located in Ginowan city, 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 2,800 meter-long 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.
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[edit] Tenant commands
[edit] Location
MCAS Futenma is situated in the center of Ginowan City (pop. 89,000). The air station covers approximately 480 hectares, about one quarter of the area of Ginowan City, and includes a 2,800-meter-long runway.[5]
[edit] 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]
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.[7] 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. [8] In a referendum conducted later the same year, a slight majority 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.[9]
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.
[edit] Current relocation plan
On October 26, 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 [10] [11]. The cited reason for the change is to reduce the engineering challenge associated with building a runway on a reef 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.[citation needed]
Reaction to the new plan for Futenma's relocation has been widespread in Okinawa. The local media, who are mainly opposed to relocations of military bases, claim the relocation is an unreasonable increase in burden of hosting bases.[citation needed] 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 April 8, 2006.[12] 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.[citation needed] In this respect, the Futenma issue exposes a major division among Okinawans: between those who remain convinced that military facilities and associated public works infrastructure benefit the island's economy; and those who simply object to the U.S. military presence on ideological grounds.
[edit] See also
- Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler
- List of United States Marine Corps installations
- List of airports in Japan
[edit] Notes
- ^ MCAS Futenma, official website, retrieved 2007-11-12
- ^ Airport information for ROTM at World Aero Data. Source: DAFIF. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
- ^ Airport information for ROTM at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF. Retrieved 2007-11-27.
- ^ Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron
- ^ Global Security website.
- ^ Takahashi 2004.
- ^ The SACO Final Report on Futenma Air Station. SACO Final Report. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (MOFA) (December 2, 1996). Retrieved on 2004-07-24.
- ^ Egelko, Bob. "Imperiled mammal threatened by plan for Okinawa base, Court in S.F. hears activists advocate applying U.S. law", San Francisco Chronicle, August 5, 2004. Retrieved on 2006-07-24.
- ^ "Residents vote 'No' to heliport - Japanese report", BBC News, December 21, 1997. Retrieved on 2006-07-24.
- ^ ABC News, October 26, 2005.
- ^ BBC News, October 26, 2005.
- ^ Allen, David and Chiyomi Sumida (April 16, 2006). No accord yet on who pays to move Marines to Guam (reprint in Leatherneck). Stars and Stripes. Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
[edit] References
This article incorporates text in the public domain from the United States Marine Corps.
- MCAS Futenma's official website
- Futenma Marine Corps Air Station at GlobalSecurity.org
- Joseph Coleman, Associated Press writer (October 26, 2005). "U.S. Agrees to Relocate Base on Okinawa". ABC News. Retrieved on 2005-10-26.
- "US agrees Okinawa air base move". BBC News (October 26, 2005). Retrieved on 2005-10-26.
- Takahashi, Kosuke (September 9, 2004). On Okinawa, trouble at home base. Asia Times Online. Retrieved on 2005-05-17.
- James Brooke (September 13, 2004). A crash and the scent of pizzatocracy, anger Okinawans. Jiji Press/AFP/New York Times. Retrieved on 2006-07-24.
[edit] External links
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