In 2011, the chairman and ranking member of the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services called for an alternative plan where Futenma aircraft would move to Kadena Air Base while the current aircraft at Kadena would move to Andersen Air Force Base."Accountability report cites higher buildup cost; U.S. senators push alternative plan." Pacific Daily News, 26 May 2011. However, US and Japan governments remained with the relocation plan as previously agreed and the fate of Futenma remained unresolved through early 2012, with the U.S. insisting that the Marine Corps' aviation elements be kept on the island while the Okinawa Prefectural government and Nago City government would like the base moved off the island. The US alleged that the aviation elements should be in close proximity to the ground and logistics elements of the Marine Air Ground Task Force, and the Japanese government of the time maintained the plan to keep the replacement airbase within Okinawa.
