Twelve F-22 Raptors and 300 staff from the US Air Force are to arrive at Kadena Air base in Japan today. That's according to Japan's Kyodo News Agency.

The deployment is the seventh since 2007. It will last 4 months. There are currently fifty F-15 fighter jets based permanently at Kadena. And according to NHK, the US military is considering deployment of the CV-22 Osprey to Okinawa Prefecture within the next few years.

Last autumn, the US Marines deployed twelve MV-22 Ospreys to their Futenma Air Station. The move has sparked an uproar among Okinawa residents over safety. The CV-22 is used to transport special forces. Last June, a CV-22 Osprey crashed in Florida during a training exercise. Okinawans are demanding the local government to cancel the deployment.

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