logo
SDF maritime transport group boosts mobility in contingencies

SDF maritime transport group boosts mobility in contingencies

Japan Times6 days ago
The Defense Ministry established in March a new unit dedicated to maritime transportation, called the Self-Defense Forces Maritime Transport Group.
The group's primary mission is to enhance the rapid movement of personnel and the delivery of supplies using transport vessels, with a particular focus on the Nansei island chain in southwestern Japan, a region increasingly threatened by China's expanding naval presence.
The new unit's command is located at the Maritime SDF's Kure Base in Hiroshima Prefecture. Uniquely, most of the unit's personnel are drawn from the Ground SDF.
China's ongoing maritime expansion has heightened regional tensions and increased concerns about a potential crisis involving Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as an integral part of its territory. If such a contingency were to occur, there could be implications for the outlying islands of Okinawa Prefecture.
Against this backdrop, the Defense Ministry has established SDF garrisons on some islands, including Yonaguni, Ishigaki and Miyako in Okinawa, as well as Amami-Oshima in neighboring Kagoshima Prefecture. Also as part of an initiative known as the "Nansei shift," the ministry has been bolstering its defense capabilities in the region by deploying surface-to-ship missile units, electronic warfare units and other strategic assets.
Nevertheless, most SDF units are dispersed across Japan's four main islands, with few training sites located on the outlying island territories.
As a result, the GSDF has made mobile deployment a top priority, focusing on the rapid movement of units from their assigned areas in the event of a contingency. To strengthen its response capabilities, the GSDF has been working to improve the readiness of its division and brigade formations.
In line with these efforts, the GSDF resumed nationwide exercises in 2021, after a hiatus of about 30 years, with units from across the country mobilized simultaneously.
The transportation capability of the SDF was identified as its weakest link. The three transport ships operated by the MSDF, along with two civilian ferries contracted by the GSDF, would not be enough to support the defense and recapture of remote islands in the event of an attack.
Moreover, the large size of these vessels restricts them to a limited number of ports. In response to these challenges, the Defense Ministry and the SDF incorporated the establishment of a new transport unit into the 2018 Defense Buildup Program.
The Maritime Transport Group currently operates a small-sized Nihonbare-class landing craft utility, or LCU, vessel, which has a displacement of 2,400 tons and measures 80 meters in length. In addition, the group has a medium-sized 3,500-ton Yoko-class landing support vessel, or LSV, measuring 120 meters long.
By March 2028, the group plans to expand its fleet by adding another LSV and increasing the number of LCU vessels to four. It also intends to introduce four maneuver support vessels of more compact design, bringing the total fleet size to 10 ships.
These will be stationed not only at the Kure Base but also at the MSDF's Hanshin Base in Kobe.
The LSVs will primarily operate between Honshu and both Amami-Oshima and Okinawa's main island. For their part, the LCUs will link Okinawa's main island with the islands of Miyako and Ishigaki.
The compact maneuver support vessels, designed to bring in supplies from the beach, will be tasked with transporting personnel and delivering goods to small islands that are inaccessible to larger transport vessels.
The Maritime Transport Group's small-size Nihonbare-class landing craft utility vessel is docked at the Kure port in Hiroshima Prefecture. |
Jiji
These new transport operations will be overseen by personnel from the GSDF, despite their lack of experience in operating such ships. The MSDF is unable to provide staff or funding for these missions due to severe personnel shortages, stemming from declining applicant numbers and increased workloads, including territorial waters patrols and joint exercises with foreign militaries.
Due to a shortage of available personnel, the GSDF was compelled to find transport crews from within its own ranks of 150,000 members.
For this, the GSDF invited applications from personnel interested in joining the Maritime Transport Group. Beginning around 2019, selected members underwent training at various MSDF schools, followed by hands-on experience aboard naval vessels.
Differences in culture, terminology and even the precise angle at which salutes are performed between the GSDF and MSDF have made the training process challenging. In one notable instance underscoring the complexities of inter-service collaboration, a GSDF member found himself receiving instruction from an MSDF member who was younger than his own son.
At its launch, the new unit had about 100 personnel, but it will require more than 300 members to operate a fleet of 10 ships. To reach this goal, the unit plans to expand its ranks in cooperation with the MSDF.
The Defense Ministry also intends to increase the number of civilian vessels contracted by the SDF to eight. In addition, it will promote port enhancements, including the construction of new wharves and the installation of additional cranes.
Even so, the new unit will still not be fully equipped. Additional coordination will be needed to increase stockpiles of equipment and materials in the Nansei island chain, which would help reduce the overall amount of transportation required.
Another important consideration is how to balance available transportation capacity with the need to efficiently evacuate island residents in the event of an emergency.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Nobel Committee Chair calls on young people to carry on legacy of peace
Nobel Committee Chair calls on young people to carry on legacy of peace

NHK

time2 hours ago

  • NHK

Nobel Committee Chair calls on young people to carry on legacy of peace

The chair of the committee which awarded last year's Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo has called on the young generations to pass down the experiences of atomic-bomb survivors. Nihon Hidankyo, the Japan Confederation of A- and H- Bomb Sufferers Organizations, represents the survivors of the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They are known as hibakusha. Norway's Joergen Frydnes attended an event on nuclear disarmament at Tokyo's Sophia University on Sunday. He appeared at a news conference with Nihon Hidankyo co-chair Tanaka Terumi. Frydnes said his trip marked the first time ever for the Nobel Committee to travel to the home country of a Peace Prize laureate. He said, "This is a unique opportunity to us, and it's a unique time because we are here to listen and to learn, and we believe the world should listen and learn to the voices of the hibakusha." Frydnes said Nihon Hidankyo members "have been instrumental in turning memory, turning pain and suffering into a force for change into a force for peace." He added that ever since the committee announced Nihon Hidankyo's award in October last year, they have seen "social movements, anti-nuclear movements, and civil society and private individuals from all over the world who are re-engaged in the issue of nuclear disarmament." Frydnes said that he believes the 80th anniversary of the attacks in August could be an opportunity for a turning point on the issue. In a speech he gave after the news conference, Frydnes said that many analysts now warn the world is standing on the edge of a "new and more unstable nuclear age." He said the survivors and their supporters "helped the world see with clear eyes what nuclear weapons really mean." He called them "the light the world needs." Frydnes addressed the young people in the room, telling them that they are "the future custodians of this memory" and "the new stewards of this truth." He urged them: "Take up the torch. Do not let silence grow. Tell the stories. Study the history. Resist the forgetting. Raise your voice."

SDF request led to nuclear threat scenario in Japan-U.S. exercise
SDF request led to nuclear threat scenario in Japan-U.S. exercise

Kyodo News

time9 hours ago

  • Kyodo News

SDF request led to nuclear threat scenario in Japan-U.S. exercise

TOKYO - The Japanese Self-Defense Forces strongly urged the U.S. military during a joint command post exercise last year to mirror any nuclear threat made by China with one of its own, government sources said Sunday. The United States ultimately complied with the request in the simulation exercise that envisioned a potential invasion of Taiwan by Beijing, raising concerns that Japan's push to invoke nuclear deterrence could exacerbate tensions between the United States and China. The request, the first of its kind in a Japan-U.S. joint exercise, was based on Japan's policy of reliance on the U.S. nuclear umbrella for protection, suggesting that both Japanese government and SDF officials see Chinese nuclear saber-rattling as a real possibility in the event of a Taiwan contingency. The Defense Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Japan and the United States named China as a hypothetical enemy for the first time in the computer simulation exercise "Keen Edge" in February last year. During the exercise, the U.S. Navy set up temporary bases in the Nansei island chain in the Kagoshima and Okinawa prefectures in the initial stages of a Taiwan contingency, with the SDF providing logistical support. Later in the drill, the scenario assumed that China hinted at the use of nuclear weapons against the United States and Japan, but the U.S. side initially did not take any measures due to concerns over escalating the situation further, according to the sources. Adm. John Aquilino, commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command, ultimately acquiesced to repeated requests by Gen. Yoshihide Yoshida, chief of the SDF Joint Staff, for "the United States to counter with nuclear threats to defend Japan." Neither Beijing nor Washington used nuclear arms in the simulation. The two countries announced last December their first guidelines on "extended deterrence," often described as the U.S.'s commitment to using its full range of nuclear and conventional capabilities to defend Japan amid China's growing military activities and North Korea's missile and nuclear development.

Japan lifts last deployment limit on women in SDF as safety improved
Japan lifts last deployment limit on women in SDF as safety improved

Japan Today

time15 hours ago

  • Japan Today

Japan lifts last deployment limit on women in SDF as safety improved

Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani poses for photos at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on July 15, 2025. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo Japan's Defense Ministry has removed its remaining work restrictions on female members of the Self-Defense Forces, allowing their participation in nuclear, biological and chemical weapons defense units from August as safety gear has improved. The change at the Ground Self-Defense Force follows those at the maritime and air defense forces. The GSDF units are responsible for missions, including decontamination and scouting, in areas contaminated with radiological materials as well as biological and chemical agents. Such missions have been linked to the risk of infertility, the reason for the restriction. Following the 2011 nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami, Japan found it was difficult to carry out decontamination work, such as removing hazardous materials from people affected by the disaster, using only male members of the SDF. The ministry has determined, following technological advances, that women can safely carry out such work by limiting hazardous exposure through the use of special vehicles and protective gear. Female personnel were previously excluded from duties involving a heavy physical burden, such as direct combat, but the ministry reviewed its policy in 1993 to promote gender equality in the SDF. In eliminating their last restrictions, the Air Self-Defense Force opened the door for women to pilot fighter jets and reconnaissance aircraft in 2015, and the Maritime Self-Defense Force allowed women to join submarine crews in 2018. The GSDF also expanded its deployment of women, including to combat vehicles, in 2017. © KYODO

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store