Australia will upgrade its navy with 11 frigates from Japan, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said on Tuesday.
“This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever been struck between Japan and Australia,” Marles said.
The 10 billion Australian dollar ($6.5 billion or €5.6 billion) deal saw Mitsubishi Heavy Industries awarded the tender to supply Mogami-class warships, beating out Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.
Deal sees tightening of Australia-Japan partnership
Japan is one of Australia’s most important partners in the Indo-Pacific region.
“This decision was made based on what was the best capability for Australia,” Marles said. “We do have a very close strategic alignment with Japan.”
The Mogami frigates are advanced warships equipped with a potent array of weapons.
“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.”
Japan’s first warship export since before WWII
The Japanese bid was seen as “more expensive and higher risk,” according to the The Australian newspaper.
This is because Japan has little history of exporting defense equipment, a legacy of its pacifist constitution introduced after World War II.
The deal is Japan’s first warship export since before World War II and only its second major defense package sold abroad.
Australia says the first three general-purpose frigates will be built offshore, with the remainder built in Western Australia.
Misubishi Heavy Industries has never built warships in a foreign country, The Australian wrote.
Australia ups defense spending amid China’s military buildup
Australia announced a major restructuring of its military in 2023, turning towards long-range strike capabilities to better respond to China’s military expansion.
It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next 10 years.
The frigate contract is Australia’s biggest defense purchase since 2021, when it agreed to buy and build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines under the tripartite AUKUS pact with the United States and the United Kingdom.
Japan had originally lost out to France an earlier bid to win a non-nuclear submarine contract, although this contract was subsequently scrapped in favor of the US-designed submarines.
Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru
