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Special Boarding Unit
The Special Boarding Unit (特別警備隊, Tokubetsukeibitai) is a special forces unit established by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force on March 27, 2001, in response to a suspected North Korean spy ship incursion that had taken place on the Noto Peninsula in 1999. The unit was created to perform similar roles to those undertaken by American Navy SEALs and the British SBS. Its structure is based on that of the SBS. It is based in Etajima, Hiroshima.
The unit's roles involve maritime anti-terrorist duties, including operations where arms are known to be involved. However, its duties and responsibilities overlap with those of the Special Security Team, the Japan Coast Guard's counter-terrorist unit. However, the SST has the right to detain anyone lawfully.
Information on SBU personnel, training and weapons is classified and not available. Its operators wear balaclavas to protect their identities when operating where they can be seen. Due to the nature of their duties and responsibilities, an amendment had been passed to raise their salaries.
After a failed Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces mission to stop North Korean spy ships that were in Japanese territorial waters off the Noto Peninsula, the SBU was established with its headquarters in Etajima, Hiroshima. The unit had conducted some covert training in Etajima after its creation, including exercises on boarding tactics to enter ships. Training was completed in 2000, a year after the SBU was created. A ship reported to have illegally entered Amami Ōshima was seen nearby, which led to the mobilization of the SBU. The ship, however, was said to have been scuttled before they could intervene. The unit made its existence known to the public in 2007 during a training exercise, which involved the deployment of Howa Type 89–armed SBU operators via RHIBs and SH-60J helicopters.
When the unit was created, it had requested training with the US Navy SEALs, but had not been able to do so due lack of available personnel who could train the candidates. To resolve this, the SBU had requested training assistance from the SBS to help in founding the unit. An SBS instructor was sent to Japan from February to March 2000.
In 2006, Iku Aso of the Shūkan Bunshun reported that the SBU was discreetly deployed to Iraq to work with American special forces in a mission to save Japanese nationals taken hostage under "Operation Babylon's Sakura", but they were never given the orders to intervene.
It was announced in January 2009 by Yasukazu Hamada that the SBU would possibly be deployed for its first mission to Somalia to engage in anti-piracy operations. The SBU was involved in anti-pirate exercises with the Samidare and the Sazanami at Bungo Channel between Shikoku and Kyushu on February 11, 2019. SBU operators had left Japan on March 14, 2009, deployed on board the Murasame-class destroyer JDS DD-106 Samidare and the Takanami-class destroyer JDS DD-113 Sazanami. The SBU would be deployed in operations with SH-60K helicopters. The deployment was made under Article 82 of the SDF Law.
Prior to the SBU's overseas deployment to Somalia, the unit had practiced alongside Japan Coast Guard units in simulating a raid on a pirate vessel played by JCG officers without any warning shots fired by SBU operators off the coast of Kure, Hiroshima with a total of 250 people participating, 60 from the JCG. In the Somalian deployment, SBU forces don't have the power to detain suspected pirates, so JCG officers would be responsible for making arrests.
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Special Boarding Unit
The Special Boarding Unit (特別警備隊, Tokubetsukeibitai) is a special forces unit established by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force on March 27, 2001, in response to a suspected North Korean spy ship incursion that had taken place on the Noto Peninsula in 1999. The unit was created to perform similar roles to those undertaken by American Navy SEALs and the British SBS. Its structure is based on that of the SBS. It is based in Etajima, Hiroshima.
The unit's roles involve maritime anti-terrorist duties, including operations where arms are known to be involved. However, its duties and responsibilities overlap with those of the Special Security Team, the Japan Coast Guard's counter-terrorist unit. However, the SST has the right to detain anyone lawfully.
Information on SBU personnel, training and weapons is classified and not available. Its operators wear balaclavas to protect their identities when operating where they can be seen. Due to the nature of their duties and responsibilities, an amendment had been passed to raise their salaries.
After a failed Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces mission to stop North Korean spy ships that were in Japanese territorial waters off the Noto Peninsula, the SBU was established with its headquarters in Etajima, Hiroshima. The unit had conducted some covert training in Etajima after its creation, including exercises on boarding tactics to enter ships. Training was completed in 2000, a year after the SBU was created. A ship reported to have illegally entered Amami Ōshima was seen nearby, which led to the mobilization of the SBU. The ship, however, was said to have been scuttled before they could intervene. The unit made its existence known to the public in 2007 during a training exercise, which involved the deployment of Howa Type 89–armed SBU operators via RHIBs and SH-60J helicopters.
When the unit was created, it had requested training with the US Navy SEALs, but had not been able to do so due lack of available personnel who could train the candidates. To resolve this, the SBU had requested training assistance from the SBS to help in founding the unit. An SBS instructor was sent to Japan from February to March 2000.
In 2006, Iku Aso of the Shūkan Bunshun reported that the SBU was discreetly deployed to Iraq to work with American special forces in a mission to save Japanese nationals taken hostage under "Operation Babylon's Sakura", but they were never given the orders to intervene.
It was announced in January 2009 by Yasukazu Hamada that the SBU would possibly be deployed for its first mission to Somalia to engage in anti-piracy operations. The SBU was involved in anti-pirate exercises with the Samidare and the Sazanami at Bungo Channel between Shikoku and Kyushu on February 11, 2019. SBU operators had left Japan on March 14, 2009, deployed on board the Murasame-class destroyer JDS DD-106 Samidare and the Takanami-class destroyer JDS DD-113 Sazanami. The SBU would be deployed in operations with SH-60K helicopters. The deployment was made under Article 82 of the SDF Law.
Prior to the SBU's overseas deployment to Somalia, the unit had practiced alongside Japan Coast Guard units in simulating a raid on a pirate vessel played by JCG officers without any warning shots fired by SBU operators off the coast of Kure, Hiroshima with a total of 250 people participating, 60 from the JCG. In the Somalian deployment, SBU forces don't have the power to detain suspected pirates, so JCG officers would be responsible for making arrests.