Japan sends SDF personnel to NATO's Ukraine support hub in Germany

TOKYO — Japan's Defense Ministry announced Friday the dispatch of four Self-Defense Force personnel to the NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine headquarters in Germany for the first time.

The command, established in 2024, has a staff of around 700 and coordinates military equipment supplies and training for Ukraine provided by members and partner countries of NATO.

Later Friday, the Foreign Ministry said Japan has contributed about $14.7 million to a NATO-led framework under which member countries purchase U.S.-made weapons for Ukraine, with the proceeds being used to procure nonlethal equipment.

At a morning press conference, Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said, "Dispatching SDF personnel there will help strengthen Japan's own defense capabilities by allowing it to learn various lessons from the war in Ukraine, including new forms of warfare."

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is widely recognized as the world's first full-scale drone war.

"Security in the Indo-Pacific and the Euro-Atlantic regions is now inseparable, and completing all necessary arrangements for the deployment marks a further deepening of cooperation between Japan and NATO," Koizumi added.

The four Japanese personnel will begin their one-year assignments next Monday at a U.S. military base in Wiesbaden, western Germany.

Two are from the Ground Self-Defense Force, with one each from the Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Air Self-Defense Force.

Their duties will mainly involve coordination related to support activities, rather than combat operations, the Defense Ministry said, adding there is no physical possibility of them becoming involved in fighting.

Then Defense Minister Gen Nakatani conveyed Japan's intention to participate in the mission during talks with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in April last year.

© KYODO