Marine Corps Air Station Futenma

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Marine Corps Air Station Futenma
Okinawa, Japan
MCAS Futenma logo
Type	Military base
Built	1945
In use	1945 - present
Controlled by	United States Marine Corps
Garrison	1st Marine Aircraft Wing
Commanders	Colonel Leo A. Falcam ^[1]

Marine Corps Air Station Futenma (MCAS Futenma) is a United States Marine Corps base located in the city of Ginowan on the island of Okinawa at 26.27° N 127.76° E. Its ICAO airport code is ROTM. 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 housing, 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.

1 Military units
2 Location
- 2.1 Local concerns
- 2.2 Current relocation plan
3 See also
4 Notes
5 References

[edit] Military units

Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron

Marine Aircraft Group 36
- Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 36 (MALS-36)
- Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152 (VMGR-152)
- Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 262 (HMM-262)
- Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 265 (HMM-265)

Marine Air Control Group 18
- Marine Air Control Squadron 4 (MACS-4)
- Marine Air Support Squadron 2 (MASS-2)
- Marine Tactical Air Command Squadron 18 (MTACS-18)
- Marine Wing Communication Squadron 18 (MWCS-18)
- Personnel Support Detachment 18 (PSD-18)
- 1st Stinger Battery

[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.^[2]

[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.^[3]

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.^[4] 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. ^[5] 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.^[6]

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.

Most residents in the Henoko area of Nago cast doubt on dugong sightings in the area as being a fiction created by anti-base activists to rally support to their cause. ^[7]

[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 ^[8] ^[9]. 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.

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. 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. 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 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 who simply object to the U.S. military presence on ideological grounds. What was billed as an island-wide protest against the Futenma relocation plan in May 2006 turned into a major embarassment for the anti-base organizers when only some 6,000 persons attended (in contrast to the claimed attendance of 25,000).