TOKYO, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Four controversial Osprey aircraft took part in a joint drill between Japan and the United States in Niigata Prefecture on Monday, in the largest such exercise to be held by the aircraft so far in Japan.

As many as six MV-22 Ospreys, which can take off and land like a helicopter and fly like a regular fixed-winged plane, will join the drills from a U.S. base in Okinawa, local media reported.

The joint exercise between Japan and the U.S., which began on March 6 and will conclude on Friday in Niigata, involves a contingent of 750 troops from the Ground Self-Defense Force's Camp Somagahara.

The drill marks the first time the plane has been used in a joint exercise since an Osprey crashed in waters off Nago, near the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Schwab, in Okinawa, on Dec. 13 last year.

The incident, which saw five crew members airlifted to safety and then subsequently treated for injuries, involved an MV-22 Osprey making a "shallow landing" according to U.S. military accounts.

The crash marked the the first major accident involving an Osprey since its deployment in Japan in 2017.

The crashed plane was based in Futenma, Okinawa, and occurred at a time when Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force has earmarked plans to add around 17 Osprey aircraft units, each of which can carry 24 combat troops, to its fleet, with flights expected to be made from 2019.

The planes' safety record was firmly called into question here by local officials and citizens following an MV-22B Osprey crashing in Hawaii in 2015, leaving two dead and 20 more injured.

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