Typical LoadOut

Depending on the natures of the missions, the loadout of SDU officers vary accordingly. Typically a SDU officer uses the following equipment:

* AC-100 helmet

* Boll'e goggle

* CBA-RCA gas mask

* Non-flammable uniform

* Level 3 bullet-proof armor with vest

* Nomax gloves

* Gor-tex boots

* Motorola communication equipment with earphone

* Earplugs

* Flashlight

* Night goggle for night missions

* Multitool, like cutter to cut a hold on wire-made fence

* MP5-A3 SMG with a spare magazine, or

* Colt XM-177E2 carbine or KAC M4A1 carbine with spare magazines

* Glock-17 9mm pistol

* Knife

* Flashbangs and tear gas grenade

* First-aid pack

* Camelback or canteens for long deployment

For the marine team, the equipment is much different:

* Camouflaged or black wet suit

* Pro-Tec water sport helmet.

* Diving goggle

* LAR V Draeger Close Circuit UBA, or just SCUBA

* Level 3 bullet-proof armor

* Fins

* Underwater flashlight

* Dive knife with blunt tip

* Emergency strobe light

* Lightsticks

* Emergency buoy

* Waterproof bag to hold special equipment like camera and surveillance equipment

* Motorola communication equipment with earphone

* "Buddy-strap" to hold team members together in limited visibility

* Underwater propellant equipment

* Colt XM-177E2 or KAC M4A1, usually mounted with Trijicon ACOG 4 x 32 scope, or

* MP5-N or MP5-K SMG with a spare magazine

* Glock-17 9mm pistol

* Camelback or canteens for long deployment

SDU Intro

Video on SDU Operation

Helicopters

The SDU does not operate its own helicopters, instead it cooperates with the Government Flying Service (GFS). The GFS currently operates 3 S-70 Black Hawk helicopters which are replaced by the French-made Super Puma around April 2002, as well as Eurocopter's EC-155B1. Pilots of GFS are highly trained, with the skills to provide transportation, fire-extinguishing, as well as techniques for special operations.

Marine Vessels

The SDU marine team operates the US-made Zodiac vessels. The Zodiac vessel is a Rigid Inflated Boat (RIB) that can transport an entire squadron (8 men). It is made by Kevlar material and is powered by 2 Dual Caterpillar turbocharged diesel engines. It has maximum speed approaches 40 knots.

Land Vehicles

The SDU utilizes many vehicles for operations. Officers are transported to scenes mainly using the Benz O-814 trucks, which the same type is used by the PTU officers as well. The Benz truck can carry 19 fully-equipped SDU officers.The SDU also uses Man LE14.224 which is a 16-ton truck to transport weapons and other equipment to scenes. The interiors of the Man trucks are modified by the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department to suit the needs of SDU. The SDU also modified several Toyota Land Cruisers by fitting ladders on top of the roofs.

Land Cruiser

Benz O-814

Man LE14.224 truck

Pin Hole Camera

Pin hole camera is a camera that is small enough to be inserted through the gap between the floor and the door. With this the SDU officers can see clearly the situations inside rooms and houses. It is particularly useful for HR missions, as well as for capturing specific targets.

Radar Imaging System

This portable device can detect and produce images behind walls and doors, and it is a very useful tool to locate the positions of hostages during HR and anti-hijacking missions.

Spike Microphone

A spike microphone is a microphone used for secret surveillance purposes, consisting of a spike-like shaft that is driven into the wall of a room being monitored, with a diaphragm transducer on the other side of the wall for pickup and amplification. The spike microphones are widely employed by SDU during hostage-rescue (HR) and anti-hijacking missions.

Tear Gas

Another major non-lethal weapon is the tear gas. Modern tear gases are composed by the chemical Ortho-chlorobenzylidene-malononitrile, or the more common form of CS. The SDU employs the hand-throw CS N225, as well as the shotgun-fired SGA-300 tear gas round.

Flashbang

Besides guns, one of the major non-lethal weapons used by the SDU and other famous CT units in the world, is the flashbang. Flashbang is used in the same way as a grenade is used, by pulling out the safety clip and throw the flashbang to the proximity of the victims. Most flashbangs are made with steel cases and use 1.5 second fuse delays, so that the flashbangs do not activate immediately after pulling out the safety clips. Most of them produce loud noises around 175dB noise level, as well as lights as bright as 2-6 million Candelas. The SDU uses several different flashbangs, some of them can flash multiple times and reused by replacing the fuses.

Sniper Rifle

The SDU operates many different sniper rifles according to the missions requirements. Currently the SDU employs H&K G3SG1, H&K 33SG1, L-42A1, L-96A1, SSG22000, KAC SR-15 and PSG-1 which is fitted with a optical sight specially designed for night operations.

The H&K G3SG1 is the sniper variant of the G3 AR. It fires the 7.62 x 51mm NATO standard round. The penetrating power of the 7.62mm round is very high. The 33SG1 is the sniper variant of the H&K 33 AR, and it fires the 5.56 x 45mm NATO rounds. Both sniper rifles are capable to fire in automatic mode.

H&K G3SG1

H&K 33SG1

The L-96A1 is the replacement of the aging L-42A1 sniper rifle. The L-96A1 is developed by the British company Accuracy International. It is a bolt action sniper rifle that, the fired bullet body round is ejected outside manually. It fires the 7.62 x 51mm NATO standard rounds.

The SSG-2000 is jointly designed and produced by SAN Swiss Arms and German company J.P. Sauer & Sohn. It enters production in 1989 and is still producing. It fires the 7.62 x 51mm NATO rounds. It is a bolt action sniper rifle with a magazine of 4 rounds only.

The SDU sometimes uses the Knight's Armament Corporation's KAC SR-25 7.62mm semi-automatic sniper rifle.

The H&K PSG-1 semi-automatic, single-fire sniper rifle is considered as some of the most accurate sniper rifle available in the world. It fires the 7.62 x 51mm NATO rounds. The SDU has fitted the PSG-1 with an optical sight specially designed for night operations, making this sniper rifle the ideal choice for SDU snipers in night time operations.

Shotgun

There are two shotguns operated by the SDU, the Italian Franchi SPAS-15 and the US Remington M870 shotgun. The SPAS-15 is the modernized version of the older SPAS-12. It has a 6-round detachable magazine box. The M870 comes in many different forms, from fixed stock to 8 rounds of ammunitions. However the SDU's version is without stock, short barrel and only has 6 + 1 rounds. There are many different types of ammunitions available, from the traditional buck shots to armor-piecing rounds to explosive rounds. A special ammunition, the SGA-300, is a special ammo that has saw-like head designed to penetrate through obstacles like doors and windows, and release the tear gas (orto-chlorobenzylidene-malononitrile, CS) stored inside after penetrating the obstacle. The SDU has been increasingly using this ammunition.

Franchi SPAS-15Remington M870

Assault Rifles (AR)

Currently 3 different ARs are used, namely the H&K 53A3, Colt M-16A2 and M-4 carbine. The 53A3 looks similar to the MP5-A3, yet it adopts the more powerful 5.56 x 45mm assault rifle rounds. Nevertheless this AR suffers from high recoil and over penetrating power of the ammos.

The Colt AR-15 (M-16A2) is the standard AR used by the US armed forces. It fires the 5.56 x 45mm assault rifle rounds. The rifle is designed to fire in automatic and single fire modes. Due to its long barrel (51cm) it is not suitable for close quarter combats. Trijicon ACOG 4 x 32 scope is usually mounted on the upper of the AR-15, which effectively turns it into a tactical sniper rifle.

The Colt XM-177E2 carbine has an effective range of 600 meters, yet it only has a 37cm barrel and a retractable stock, making it suitable on close quarter combats and has the penetrating power of the 5.56 x 45mm rounds. Recently the SDU has purchased 72 M4A1 carbines from KAC.

Sub-Machine Gun (SMG)

The SDU currently operates the H&K MP5 SMG.

There are many different variants of MP5, of which the SDU currently operates the A3, SD5, SD6, K and K-PDW. The marine team uses the MP5N which has the trigger group specially modified for underwater uses. All MP5s fire the 9 x 19mm pistol rounds, however due to the longer barrels and special firing mechanisms, the 9mm rounds fired from MP5 are more accurate and powerful than fired by pistols.

Pistol

Currently the SDU operates two pistols, the FN GP35 High Power and the Glock 17. Both pistols fire the 9mm ammo rounds. The High Power has been the standard sidearm of SDU for decades. However the High Power is heavy, and is currently being replaced by the Austrian-made Glock 17 pistol. The Glock is made with thermo-plastic and steel, making it lighter and more comfortable than its counterpart. The Glock 17 pistol has replaced the GP35 recently.

Glock 17FN GP35 High Power

Weapons

The SDU has sufficient budgets that allow it to acquire up-to-date weapons. Due to this many foreign weapons companies aggressively promote their products to SDU by offering free samples. However the SDU has its own selection criteria, weapons that are not suitable for Hong Kong use, like M203 grenade launchers are not used. Rifles that have their bullets produced by only one supplier would not be chosen, for example the FN P-90 sub-machine gun (SMG). Besides guns described below, all SDU officers carry knives with them.

Pistol
S&W M10 (Early 70s - late 70s)
Browning Mk3 (Late 70s - early 90s)
Glock 17 (Early 90s - present)

Submachine Guns
Sterling submachine gun (Early 70s - late70s)
MP5A3 (Early 80s - present)
MP5A5 (Early 80s - present)
MP5SD3 (Early 80s - present)
Assault Rifle
AR-15 (Early 70s - early 80s)
XM-177 (1982 - 2000)
MC-51 (1992 - 1996)
M-4 (2001 - present, as medium range sniper rifle)
G-36KV (2001 - present, as medium range sniper rifle)

Shotguns
Remington 870 (Early 80s - present)
Benelli M1 Super 90 (Early 80s - present)

Sniper Rifles
G3SG-1 (Early 80s - early 90s)
PSG-1 (Late 80s - 2005)
L42A1 (Early 80s - 90s)
L96A1 (Early 90s - present)
SR-25 (Late 90s - present)
SSG-2000 (Early 90s - present)

LAR V Draeger Close Circuit Underwater Breathing Apparatus (UBA)

The LAR V Draeger is a self-contained closed-circuit, 100 percent oxygen, underwater breathing apparatus, designed for clandestine operations in shallow water.?The LAR V is worn on the diver's chest.?With this closed-circuit system, the diver breathes 100 percent oxygen and his exhaled breath is re-circulated in the diving apparatus.?The divers exhaled breath passes through a chemical filter which removes carbon dioxide, replenishing the oxygen that is consumed.?Depth, water temperature and oxygen consumption rate all affect the duration of the LAR V Draeger.

Bullet-Proof Armor

The strength of bullet-proof armor is classified into 4 categories, with NIJ Level 1 the weakest and Level 4 the strongest. However the Level 4 weights 26lb and seriously hinders the movements of the users. Currently the SDU officers use the British-made Highmark NIJ Level 3 armor with custom-made non-detachable pockets and shotgun-round holders. The armor guarantees users to have protections against 7.62 x 39mm rounds fired from the AK-47, which is considered as the most common rifle used by criminals in Hong Kong.

Helmet and Goggles

The SDU operates the AC-100 helmet made in the UK which is also adopted by the British SAS. The helmet can protect the officer from 9 x 19mm ammo rounds.

The French Boll'e goggle is famous for its low price yet a high quality is offered. The goggle can sustain hits from 9 x 19mm ammo rounds fired form pistols, and offers the least distortion on wearer's vision.

The S-10 gas mask is also a common mask used by SDU officers, especially the missions require them to use tear gas. The S-10 operates with charcoal to filter the air. However due to its limitation to the sights, the SDU is replacing their S-10 gas masks with the Advantage 1000 CBA-RCA gas masks. The gas mask is designed in such a way that the distortion on wearer's vision and limitation are minimized.

Uniform

Currently the SDU has 3 standard uniforms. The dark blue one is suitable for operations conducted in night times and low light conditions. The grey uniform is for the standard urban operations, and the jungle camouflage uniform is for rural operations. All uniforms are non-flammable and can protect the officers from tear gas attacks. The standard gloves are the Nomax gloves. The marine team officers wear the camouflaged wet suits or black wet suits.

Due to the relatively small size of the SDU, officers who are off duties will be called back through the new digital mobile system. Those officers, while wearing tees and jeans, will directly go to the scenes of the emergencies, and only by then they will wear the armors and distributed weapons to them. Hence it is not weird to see SDU officers carry out emergency operations wearing tees and jeans.

Training

To maintain the SDU's high standards, recruitment exercises are not open to the general public. To even qualify for the recruitment, one must have a minimum two years service in the Hong Kong Police, and to be both a non-smoker and non-drinker. The selection process is very stringent, with a high drop-out rate; only about 100 are selected to enlist in the SDU.

The officers in the unit maintain a high degree of secrecy and only the closest family members know their true identity.

Interestingly, the SDU does not enforce a retirement age, due to the unit's emphasis on overall personal capability rather than physical prowess alone; an officer only retires when he wishes to resign or has become incapable of fulfilling his duties.

The officers in SDU enjoy a comparatively high salary, a typical officer can expect to afford an expensive car or other luxuries in his first year of service. At their retirement, they are paid a lump sum of Hong Kong Dollars (HK) $2,000,000 and still receive a monthly pay-check.

To be a SDU officer, one must first completed the Police Tactical Unit (PTU) training, which includes crowd-control, advanced tactics and sliding down from helicopters. The SDU is open for all officers to apply who have completed the PTU trainings, those with short-sights can also apply by wearing contact-lens. Candidates who successfully complete the pre-selection process, medical examination and a four-day selection program will then attend a six-week Specialist Unit Basic Training (SUBT) course covering a range of topics including physical fitness training, weapons training, tactics and Close Quarter Containment. Upon completion of SUBT, candidates may choose to attend either ASU Advanced Training or SDU Advanced Selection. Officers who can pass the 7-day long SDU Advanced Selection will then attend its 5-months Advanced Counter-Terrorism (ACT) training and then join its operational teams, either team A or team B.

Officers who completed the ACT courses will then attend the combat diving courses, which last for 3 months. Officers will then be assigned to the land operation team, marine team or the sniper team according to their strengths. It takes at least 2 to 3 years before an officer can completely master all the CT skills required.

The medic team has received not only ACT training, but also field medics specially designed by the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Hospital and Health Bureau of Hong Kong. This team is also trained by the British SAS and US Delta Force.

The SDU has frequent exchange programs with foreign CT units such as the US Navy SEALs and Delta Force, British SAS and SBS, French GIGN and Singapore Police's STAR. The SDU also involves in the creation and trainings of Singapore Police's STAR counter terrorism unit.

Specialist Unit Basic Training (SUBT):

The SUBT training consists of materials that are not taught in any other programs offered by the Hong Kong Police, not in the PTU training nor in the EU training. These materials include martial art, basic urban warfare, basic rural warfare, usage and maintenance of weapons, field navigation and Close Quarter Containment (CQC). The martial art taught in SUBT is a mixture of Judo and Thai boxing, and the use of knives. In the basic urban warfare, officers are taught about dynamic entries, team covering, fast rappelling from buildings and helicopters (slow rappelling is taught in PTU training); in basic rural warfare training, officers are taught to find covers, ambush points and team works. Officers in SUBT can also learn to fire fully automatic MP5 SMG (PTU only teaches to fire fully automatic AR-15/M-16A2, shotgun and single-fire MP5-A2-SF) and the maintenance of it. The CQC will teach officers the correct way in indoor, room-to-room fighting. Field navigation course including the use of map and stars to locate the current positions.

Counter Terrorism Trainings:

The counter terrorism (CT) trainings of the SDU has its origin from the British 22nd Special Air Services (SAS). The SAS is widely regarded as the world best special operation unit in the world. The SAS uses the term Counter Revolutionary Warfare Squadron (CRW) to dedicate its efforts to fight against terrorism. The Special Projects (SP) team inside the SAS is in charge of counter terrorism missions in the world, of which this team is also regarded by the world as the most experienced and best trained counter terrorist outfit. 80 soldiers from the SAS are selected every six months to station in the SP team. During the first six weeks of the rotation, SAS troopers will receive close quarter containment trainings in their kill houses to further refine their already high proficiency in firearms. During these six weeks the SAS troopers fire over 2,000 rounds of trainings.

The ACT course for the SDU is different from the trainings of the SAS, however, because the police officers joining the SDU did not receive special operation trainings before, therefore, the ACT has to train SDU trainees not only CQC techniques, but also other aspects necessary for the officers to become counter-terrorism capable. These includes physical fitness, hand-to-hand combats which include the use of knives, deployment trainings with various vehicles including helicopters, and various military tactics and strategies which are essential for the police officers to carryout CT missions successfully.

Despite of these differences, the CQC trainings are essentially identical for the SAS and the SDU in the ACT course, which is much more vigorous and demanding than the CQC trainings in the SUBT. The SDU adopts the room-clearing techniques from the SAS, their tactics and equipment. As seen from various documentary videos of the SAS and the SDU, both units perform vigorous room-clearing actions, like clearing a room of terrorists after the detonation of the flashbang within 2 seconds, and firing multiple rounds of fires to the heads of the terrorists to inflict maximum damages to them within the shortest period of time.

With the availability of world-class training facilities, equipment, sufficient supply of resources, as well as the various opportunities of cross training with other famous CT units in the world, the Special Duties Unit has established its reputation and respect throughout the world as a world-class counter terrorism unit.

SDU vs ASU:

The Airport Security Unit is a counter terrorism unit designated to patrol the Hong Kong International Airport in a high-profile manner to deter terrorists from attacking the airport as well as attempting to hijack aircraft within the jurisdiction of Hong Kong. Officers of ASU receive 5 months of counter terrorism trainings after completion of the SUBT training. Even though on many occasion Superintendent Danko Au Yeung has dismissed claims that the ASU is inferior to the SDU, nevertheless, from the selection criteria, trainings to the scope of missions capable to carry out, the SDU is apparently much more superior than the ASU.

Selections:

Since 2000, the recruitment procedures of the SDU and ASU are merged together. Police officers who wish to join the SDU or ASU have to first complete a four-days selection, and attend the six-week SUBT training. For officers who have completed the SUBT can immediately choose to attend the ASU's advanced counter terrorism course. Nevertheless, if those officers who have completed the SUBT wish to join the SDU, they have to first complete the SDU seven-days selection before allowing to take part in the ACT training, and for those officers who failed the seven-days selection can choose to attend the ASU's advanced counter terrorism course without any further selection procedures. This indicates that, to become a SDU member, one must be better performed than what the ASU requires its officers to do. Thus, the SDU is superior in terms of the quality of people admitted.

Trainings:

Both units, after passing the SUBT training, would provide their own five-months counter terrorism trainings. Nevertheless, the intensities of trainings in the ASU's and the ACT are not the same.

During the five-months counter terrorism training, each ASU officer would fire in excess of 1,000 rounds of cartridges, while each SDU officers would fire in excess of 4,000 rounds, which is 4 times as intensive as the ASU does. Secondly, the ASU's course, including its CQC course, emphasizes more on barricading high-risk suspects --- even the hand-to-hand combat of the ASU is aimed to allow its officers to be elite in barricading suspects, other than the SDU's ACT course emphasize on "shoot-to-kill" doctrine just like its predecessor, the British SAS does. Even the SDU's hand-to-hand combat course emphasizes on performing lethal, or close to lethal, attacks on the terrorists, other than barricade them. Thirdly, the SDU course covers not only marksmanship on MP5 SMG 9-mm pistols and deployment strategies and tactics, but also in medium to long-range engagements, explosives as well as other specialist fields. Therefore, the SDU's ACT course is much more intensive and complete than the ASU's advanced training course in terms of counter terrorism tactics.

Furthermore, after the completion of the ACT, every SDU officers are required to attend the three-months long combat diving courses, which are originated from the British SBS --- a unit which is more elite than the SAS in terms of maritime CT. Officers will than be equipped with skills and techniques to perform maritime CT missions as well as maritime infiltrations, of which the ASU simply could not do.

Missions:

Lastly, the differences between the type of missions that the SDU and ASU officers can perform have also shown that the SDU is superior than the ASU. The SDU does not only specialize in terms of CQC, but also in anti-hijackings and hostage rescue missions and barricading of high-risk suspects and criminals. Even though the ASU has a anti-hijacking unit which is rotated every month, and its members have to receive anti-hijacking techniques, during various exercises and actual deployments, it were the SDU that actually asked to perform anti-hijacking missions. Therefore, the SDU is superior in terms of its readiness, reliability, as well as its diversity in terms of the types of missions capable to perform.

Origin and History

The establishment of SDU can be traced back to an incident on March 13, 1971, when a plane from Philippine Airline were hijacked and landed in Kai Tak Airport. Though the incident were resolved peacefully, the Hong Kong Police Force became concerned that a similar incident would occur in the future. A "marksmen squad" (神槍手隊) was assembled in 1973 and later re-organised into the Special Duties Unit in 1974. On April 1974 the Sharpshooter team was officially renamed as Special Duties Unit (SDU). The SDU is subordinated to the Police Tactical Unit (PTU) and the PTU headquarters is located at Fan Ling.

At first the SDU was a small team consisting 30 officers. Due to the lack of experience the trainings were exceptionally harsh, hence many talented and dedicated officers quited. This situation changed in 1978 after the SDU was evaluated by the British Army's Special Air Service (SAS), which is a well-know counter-terrorism (CT) expert. This was the first major reform of the SDU structure.

The SDU operation team was divided into A and B teams, with trainings from the SAS. Tactics were developed to suit the unique environment of Hong Kong. In 1982, the marine division was formed with an initial strength of 12, which was probably related to a classified CT operation conducted by the Special Boat Service, the navy's counterpart of SAS. The combat divers were trained to perform maritime CT operations. The divers are more seen in security operations as well as search and rescue (SAR) operations.

In 1992 the team suffered a major setback in a near-catastrophic operation. The SDU officers, together with detectives from the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau's (OCTB) officers conducted a search operation after receiving information on the whereabouts of an armed robbery group. The police arrived on the scene, the Guangzhou Building located in Tsuen Wan, which was a pre-war building that has no elevators. The SDU, instead of performing a dynamic entry, they taunted and threatened the gunmen, of which such tactics were proved to be successful before. Within seconds the armed robberies responded by firing Type-56 (Chinese copy of AK-47) and later throwing one stick grenade to the officers which had not exploded. The SDU officers then called in reinforcement. Afterward, the gunmen threw a grenade to the street, and they managed to escape the flat by climbing out of the windows. The SDU reinforcements just arrived the scene tried to prevent them from escaping, but resulted in several injuries, including the blinding of a SDU sniper when a robbery threw that grenade to the street. The operation ended by the capture of all the robberies (5 men 1 woman) after 6 hours of fire exchanges, leaving 7 policemen , 3 from SDU, seriously injured.

After this catastrophe the structure of SDU has once again changed, this time by their own. One of the changes is that the SDU will assume full command whenever they are required to carry out operations, leaving other officers the duty of setting up defense parameters and supporting roles only. The SDU team now consists of the following divisions:

1.) Operation Team, which is divided into Team A and Team B, together with the Sniper team. Team C is responsible for the training of SDU officers.

2.) The medical team, which consists of SDU officers with special trainings on battlefield first aids.

3.) The headquarters, which is responsible for all administrative works, as well as providing intelligences to the operations.

4.) The boat team, which maintains and operate the Zodiac vessels. The Zodiac vessels are also used by the US Navy SEAL Special Operation Force.

5.) The maintenance team, which maintain all land vehicles as well as the Asia's most advanced Close Quarter Battle (CQB) House.

Currently, the SDU has a strength of 100 officers. Officers of SDU ranged from constables to chief inspectors.

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