Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday.
Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates.
Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade.
Photo: AFP
“This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever been struck between Japan and Australia,” Marles said. “This decision was made based on what was the best capability for Australia. We do have a very close strategic alignment with Japan.”
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was awarded the tender over Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.
Mogami-class warships are advanced stealth frigates equipped with a potent array of weapons. Marles said they would replace Australia’s aging fleet of Anzac-class vessels, with the first Mogami-class ship to be on the water by 2030.
“The Mogami-class frigate is the best frigate for Australia,” Marles said. “It is a next-generation vessel. It is stealthy. It has 32 vertical launch cells capable of launching long-range missiles.”
The deal further cements a burgeoning security partnership between Australia and Japan. Japan is deepening cooperation with US allies in the Asia-Pacific region that, like Tokyo, are involved in territorial disputes with China.
Both Japan and Australia are members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue alongside India and the US.
Japanese government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi yesterday said that the deal was “proof of trust in our nation’s high-level technology, and the importance of interoperability between Japan’s self defense forces and the Australian military.”
It was also a “big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,” Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo.
Japan’s pacifist constitution restricts it from exporting weapons, but Tokyo last year loosened arms export controls to enable it to boost sales abroad.
Australian Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy said the Mogami-class frigates are capable of launching long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles.
“The acquisition of these stealth frigates will make our navy a bigger navy, and a more lethal navy,” he said.
The first three Mogami-class frigates are to be built overseas, Conroy said, with shipbuilding yards in Western Australia expected to produce the rest.
Australia announced an agreement to acquire US-designed nuclear-powered submarines in 2021, scrapping a years-long plan to develop non-nuclear submarines from France. Under the tripartite AUKUS pact with the US and the UK, the Australian navy plans to acquire at least three Virginia-class submarines within 15 years.
The AUKUS submarine program alone could cost up to US$235 billion over the next 30 years, according to Australian government forecasts, a price tag that has stoked criticism.
Australia plans to gradually increase its defense spending to 2.4 percent of GDP — above the 2 percent target set by NATO, but well short of US demands for 3.5 percent.
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