米無人機、２１日に運用開始　鹿屋拠点、８機で対中監視

　海上自衛隊鹿屋航空基地（鹿児島県鹿屋市）に配備される米軍の無人偵察機「ＭＱ９」に関し、県と市は１８日、今月２１日に運用が始まると防衛省から通知があったと発表した。配備は東シナ海における中国艦艇の監視強化が目的。８機態勢で１年間の予定としており、米軍関係者最大２００人が市内に駐留する。
　鹿屋市の中西茂市長は１８日、九州防衛局の遠藤敦志企画部長と市役所で面会。この後、記者団の取材に応じ、「１年間を厳守していただきたい」と改めて強調した。遠藤氏は運用開始時期が当初見込んでいた７月ごろからずれ込んだ理由について「天候や部品の不具合が重なった」と記者団に説明した。（2022/11/18-20:12）

The U.S. military will begin operations by its MQ-9 reconnaissance drones deployed to a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force air base in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, on Monday, local officials said Friday.
   The eight unmanned aerial vehicles will be deployed for a year to monitor Chinese warships in the East China Sea, said Kanoya city and Kagoshima prefectural officials, who were informed of the deployment plan by the Japanese Defense Ministry.
   Up to 200 U.S. military personnel will be stationed in the city, they said.
   "We want the deployment to adhere strictly to the one-year period," Kanoya Mayor Shigeru Nakanishi told reporters after a meeting with Atsushi Endo, an official at the Defense Ministry's Kyushu Defense Bureau.
   Endo said that the start of operations was postponed from the initial schedule of July due to weather issues and parts defects.