US Marine Ospreys land at Miyako airport for the first time as Keen Sword build-up begins

US Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey tiltrotors landed at Miyako Airport in Okinawa Prefecture on 15 October 2026, the first time American Ospreys have used the island's civilian airport, carrying troops and supplies ahead of the Japan-US joint exercise Keen Sword 27, which runs from 19 to 29 October. Two Marine aircraft touched down separately at about 2:35 p.m. and 3:10 p.m. local time and unloaded personnel and cargo, and a Ground Self-Defense Force V-22 landed and took off at around 4:20 p.m.

The traffic was heavier at Ishigaki, further south and closer to Taiwan. A Ground Self-Defense Force CH-47 helicopter arrived at around 10 a.m. with a handful of troops, two Marine CH-53 heavy-lift helicopters landed shortly after 1 p.m., and a Marine Osprey came in at just after 3 p.m., its crew unloading backpacks and gear onto Japanese army vehicles bound for Camp Ishigaki. Ospreys had made emergency landings at the airport before, but this was the first time one used it for an exercise.

Between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. two US KC-130 transports landed in turn. The first carried a small military vehicle and about five personnel; the second delivered a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System launcher, which was loaded onto a transporter and driven away from the airport. The Yaeyama Mainichi said it was only the second time HIMARS had been deployed to Ishigaki, after the 2024 Japan-US exercise.

Movements were also seen on Okinawa's main island. Two Ground Self-Defense Force V-22s arrived at US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma at about 12:04 p.m., followed by a Japanese army CH-47 at around 2:30 p.m., in what the Ryukyu Shimpo described as a run of arrivals apparently linked to the drill.

Keen Sword is the 18th field iteration of the series, which aims to improve Japanese readiness and Japan-US coordination. Equipment transport and communications training are planned on Miyako. On Ishigaki and Yonaguni, 37 weapons and equipment items are to be deployed, including the US Marine Corps NMESIS anti-ship missile system and the MADIS short-range air defence system, which will be set up at the Yonaguni camp for the first time. Japan's Joint Operations Command and US Indo-Pacific Command plan a joint news conference at Camp Ishigaki on 19 October.

Local officials are pushing back on details rather than the drill itself. Miyakojima City has asked the Okinawa Defense Bureau to keep aircraft away from densely populated areas and to bar US troops from leaving their bases during the exercise. Okinawa Prefecture asked for the impact on residents to be kept to a minimum but, unlike in the past, did not ask the US military to refrain from using Ospreys or civilian airports. Some residents fear such airport use is becoming routine, and protesters gathered as the Osprey landed at Ishigaki.

The Yaeyama Mainichi has described the exercise as one widely seen as having a Taiwan contingency in mind, with the islands closest to Taiwan becoming steadily more fortified. The first day of the airlift points the same way: moving launchers and troops through civilian runways on Miyako and Ishigaki is the kind of rapid reinforcement Tokyo and Washington would need in a crisis near Taiwan, and every routine landing now makes the next one easier.