Special Duties Unit

Special Duties Unit
Special Duties Unit Insignia
Active	July 23, 1974 - present
Country	Hong Kong
Type	Paramilitary/Civilian Law Enforcement
Role	Counterterrorism, hostage rescue, VIP protection, underwater operations.
Size	Over 140 officers
Part of	Hong Kong Police Force
Nickname(s)	Flying Tigers
Motto(s)	"Strength, Discipline, Unity"
Commanders
Current commander	Ian Christopher Strange
Insignia
Identification symbol	Tiger head with wings on either side

The Special Duties Unit (Abbreviation: SDU; Chinese: 特別任務連, nicknamed Flying Tigers 飛虎隊) is Hong Kong's main elite paramilitary special operations unit, and part of the Hong Kong Police Force.

Established in 1974 by the British Hong Kong government and trained by the Special Air Service (SAS), the SDU is arguably one of Asia's finest and most well-known special operations units. Officers in the Unit take on both law enforcement and paramilitary roles in sea, air, and land. The Unit's primary functions include counterterrorism, hostage rescue, underwater operations, and responding to active crimes involving firearms. Membership in the Unit is highly secretive and known only to close family members, thus all officers wear masks during operations to protect their identities.

The SDU is a subdivision of the Police Tactical Unit (PTU) of the Hong Kong Police Force, and is headquartered in Fanling. The current commanding officer of the unit is Superintendent Ian Christopher Strange.

The establishment of the SDU can be traced back to an incident on March 13, 1971, when a Philippine Airlines flight was hijacked and forced to land at Hong Kong's old Kai Tak Airport. Though the incident was resolved peacefully, the Hong Kong government became concerned that a similar incident would occur in the future. A Sharpshooter Team was assembled in 1973，and reorganized in 1974 into the unit known today.

The Unit was organized with assistance from members of the British SAS, and maintains close ties to similar units in many countries. After the handover of Hong Kong’s sovereignty from Britain to China in 1997, the Unit not only continues its training exchanges with many European, North American, and South-East Asian special operations units and police forces, but has also begun to form closer ties with China.

The Unit consists of the following sections and teams:

To maintain the Unit's high standards, recruitment exercises are not open to the general public. To qualify for recruitment, one must have a minimum of two years of service in the Hong Kong Police Force and preferably have served in the PTU. One must also be a non-smoker and non-drinker. The selection process is very stringent, with a drop-out rate of over 75%. The Unit also organizes frequent training exercises with other similar units from around the world to maintain its high standards.