The US military resumed the additional controversial deployment of Osprey military aircraft to the southern Japanese island of Okinawa on August 12, amid protests over the move, local press reported.

Ten MV-22 Osprey transport aircraft, part of the second Osprey squadron to Japan, took off from US Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture on Monday, and eight of them landed in Futenma Air Station in Okinawa by noon, local time, where they are deployed, according to Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK), Japan's public broadcaster.

Two aircraft of the Osprey squadron from Iwakuni was already deployed at the military base in Okinawa on August 3, but the US Marine Corps had to postpone the additional deployment in the wake of last week's crash of a US Air Force rescue helicopter there.

The report added that Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima and local residents around the military base in Okinawa have protested against the additional deployment, stressing their strong concern over safety issues related to the aircraft.

The 12 tilt-rotor hybrid aircraft, earlier shipped from the United States, were first delivered to the air station of Iwakuni, and they performed various system checks there before flying to Okinawa where another squadron already arrived last year.