Melbourne, Australia — Australia and Japan on Saturday signed contracts for the delivery of the first three of a 10 billion Australian dollar ($6.5 billion) fleet of Japanese-designed warships, with the first delivery to take place over three years.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will build the first three Mogami-class frigates in Japan. Australia plans to build another eight at a shipyard in the state of Western Australia.
Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and his Australian counterpart Richard Marles Attended a signing ceremony aboard the Mogami-class frigate JS Kumano, part of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, off the Australian city of Melbourne.
Kumano recently participated in Exercise Kakadu, a biennial multinational maritime exercise hosted by Australia.
Australia announced In August last year the Japanese bid won the contract to provide Australia with the next generation general purpose frigate over Germany’s MEKO A-200 from ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. The deal provided a major boost to Japan’s still-underdeveloped defense industry after Australia lost a submarine contract to a French company in 2016.
The Japanese-designed fleet will replace Australia’s aging ANZAC-class frigates, which are considered more vulnerable to modern missile and drone attack.
Marles said the Japanese frigates were a major step towards providing Australia with a larger and more lethal surface combatant fleet. The first Mogami-class frigate is scheduled to arrive in Australia in 2029.
“The timescale that we have announced is the fastest ever acquisition of a surface combatant aircraft in service in the Royal Australian Navy, and so it is a very fast timescale,” Marles told reporters.
Japan is accelerating its military buildup while expanding its defense ties beyond its only treaty ally, the United States. He now considers Australia a semi-ally.
Marles said Australia welcomed Japan’s relaxation of export controls on defense equipment and technology with “reliable partners like Australia”.
“Japan is an industrial powerhouse and it offers a lot of opportunities for the development of Australia and our own defense industry as the Mogami project demonstrates,” Marles said.
Koizumi said the introduction of Japanese ships into the Australian Navy meant “finally a major step is being taken to elevate our bilateral defense cooperation to greater heights.”
He said Japan would remain Australia’s “indispensable partner” in the new case Australian defense strategy The deal, announced this week, will add AU$53 billion ($38 million) to the defense budget over a decade.
Koizumi said a “decisive factor” in Australia choosing the Japanese frigate was that it could be operated with only 90 personnel, about half the crew of Australia’s current ANZAC-class version.
Australia says its Mogami-class frigates will be armed with surface-to-air and anti-shipping missiles and can operate combat helicopters. Her crew will consist of 92 sailors and officers.
