NAHA, Japan - The U.S. Marine Corps conducted a parachute drill Tuesday over training waters off Camp Schwab in Japan's southern island prefecture of Okinawa, the first known such exercise in the area since 2009.
Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki had called for thorough safety measures for Tuesday's drill, which took place off the Henoko district, where landfill work is underway to relocate a key U.S. air base within the prefecture.
At around 2:20 p.m., two service members jumped from an Osprey transport aircraft and landed in the sea. The drill was repeated five times over about 40 minutes, involving 10 service members in total.
Under a 1996 agreement, the Japanese and U.S. governments agreed that parachute drop training in Okinawa should, in principle, be conducted at an airfield on Ie Island off the northeast coast of Okinawa's main island.
However, the latest drill falls outside the scope of the agreement because the service members landed in the sea rather than on land, according to the Defense Ministry's Okinawa bureau.
The U.S. Marines previously conducted parachute drills in training waters near Camp Schwab in February 2007 and October 2009.
The Marines have also repeatedly conducted the drills at U.S. Kadena Air Base on Okinawa's main island, citing aging facilities at Ie Jima Auxiliary Airfield, although Kadena is supposed to be used only in exceptional circumstances. A runway at the Ie Jima airfield reopened after repairs in late 2025, but the drills continued at Kadena.
Safety concerns over the drills persist following a 1965 incident in the Okinawa village of Yomitan, where an elementary school girl was crushed to death by a trailer dropped by parachute during a U.S. military exercise.
The U.S. military previously conducted parachute training at the former Yomitan airfield near residential areas. Amid safety concerns among residents, Japan and the United States agreed in 1996 to relocate the drills to Ie Island.
