SDF maritime transport group boosts mobility in contingencies

Japan Times

6 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.