Special Assault Team
| Special Assault Team | |
|---|---|
| 特殊急襲部隊 (Japanese) Tokushu Kyūshū Butai (Japanese) | |
Patch of SAT | |
| Active |
|
| Country | Japan |
| Agency | Prefectural police |
| Type | Police tactical unit |
| Role | |
| Abbreviation | SAT |
| Structure | |
| Operatives | Approx. 300 |
| Teams | |
| Notables | |
| Significant operation(s) | Neomugicha incident |
The Special Assault Team (特殊急襲部隊, Tokushu Kyūshū Butai; SAT) is a police tactical unit maintained by individual Japanese prefectural police forces and supervised by the National Police Agency. It is a national-level counterterrorism unit that cooperates with territorial-level Anti-Firearms Squads and Counter-NBC Terrorism Squads. Most information on the unit is confidential, and its existence was not officially revealed until 1996.
The SAT is officially known in Japanese as simply Special Unit (特殊部隊, Tokushu Butai) and individual teams officially take the name of the police to which they are assigned; an example would be the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Special Unit (警視庁特殊部隊, Keishicho Tokushu Butai; Metropolitan Police Department Special Unit) for the SAT unit assigned to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.