Photo/Illutration Members of the Self-Defense Forces maritime transport group participate in a ceremony at Kure Base on April 6. (Mizuki Sato)

KURE, Hiroshima Prefecture--To strengthen the defense of the Nansei chain of islands stretching from southwest of Kyushu, the Self-Defense Forces has launched its first maritime transport group to remote locales.

A ceremony was held here April 6 to mark the new unit, which incorporates members of all three SDF branches.

“The newly organized unit for maritime transport established through the combined efforts of GSDF and MSDF members is an extremely important historic first step,” Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said at the ceremony held at the MSDF’s Kure Base.

A major aim is to counter China’s maritime advances in the East China Sea and increasing military pressure on Taiwan by bolstering the SDF's defense of the Nansei islands. 

The maritime transport group will be tasked with transporting SDF members and weapons to the Nansei chain from bases on the main island of Honshu. 

The unit was formally established on March 24, the same day the Joint Operations Command was set up in Tokyo to unify command over all three SDF branches.

Nakatani said that marked the entering of a new age in SDF operations.

The SDF maritime transport group will report directly to Nakatani. While the group’s command will initially be headquartered at the MSDF Kure Base, an MSDF base in Hyogo Prefecture will also be used as another command center.

The 100 or so members of the unit will at first operate one midsize and one small transport ship, but plans call for expanding the group’s fleet to 10 ships by fiscal 2027.

The Defense Ministry and SDF in recent years have shifted their focus to the Nansei chain, including the various islands of Okinawa Prefecture, to counter the moves being made by China.

But because those islands are spread out over a wide area of ocean, a major logistics issue had been transporting personnel and equipment to such distant locales.

A Defense Ministry source said that in the event of a military flareup in Taiwan, it would be necessary to make 20 roundtrips between the Japanese mainland and the outlying islands from the first detection of signs of military action in real time.

But under the current situation, such a number of trips would take several months, and one high-ranking SDF officer said fighting would be concluded while the transport operation was under way.

Col. Kosei Baba of the GSDF will be the first commander of the maritime transport group and about 90 percent of its members will come from the GSDF. The unit will mainly transport other GSDF members and equipment with one objective being to help plug the MSDF’s chronic personnel shortage.

At the same time, because GSDF members are not used to operating ships, there are concerns about the actual operations of the group.

Meanwhile, the Kure city government is also hoping that the SDF will further develop an area that once was used by Nippon Steel Corp. as a plant site.

The Defense Ministry disclosed in March 2024 its plan to establish a multifunctional defense base on the site and plans to acquire about 130 hectares of land from Nippon Steel.

(This article was written by Mizuki Sato, Daisuke Yajima and Hayashi Yanagawa.)

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