On April 23, 2025, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, a Mogami-Class frigate, JS Kumano, located in Yokohama, southern Tokyo. Photo Credit: Kyodo News via AP
Australia will upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Machinery, Defense Minister Richard Marles said on Tuesday (August 5, 2025).
Charged as one of Japan’s biggest defense export contracts since World War II, Australia will pay US$6 billion ($10 billion) over the next decade to acquire the stealth frigate fleet.
Australia is in the midst of a major military restructuring, strengthening its navy with long-range firepower to stop China.
Over the next decade, we are striving to expand our fleet of major warships from 11 to 26.
“This is clearly the biggest defensive industry agreement that has been hit with Japan and Australia to date,” Marless touts the deal. “This decision was made based on Australia’s best capabilities,” he added. “We have a very close strategic collaboration with Japan,” he said.
Mitsubishi Heavy Machinery was awarded a bid over Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Marine System.
The Mogami-Class warship is an advanced stealth frigate with powerful weapons.
Marles said the fleet of Australia’s aging Anzac class vessels will be replaced by the first Mogami class vessel to board the water by 2030. “It’s the next generation of ships. It’s stealth. There are 32 vertical launch cells that can launch long-range missiles,” he added.
The deal further strengthens the burgeoning security partnership between Australia and Japan. Japan is deepening its cooperation with US allies in the Asia-Pacific region, which are involved in territorial disputes with China, like Tokyo. Japan and Australia are members of the “Quad” group alongside India and the US.
Hayashii Yoshizaki, a spokesman for the Japanese government, said on Tuesday (August 5, 2025). He said the deal is “proof of trust in our country’s high-level technology and the importance of interoperability between Japan’s Self-Defense Forces and the Australian army.”
It was also a “major step towards increasing national security cooperation with our special strategic partner, Australia,” Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo.
“More fatal”
Japan’s pacifist constitution restricts the export of arms, but in recent years, Tokyo has loosened its arms export controls to promote overseas sales.
“This is Japan’s largest defense export contract since 1945,” said Yee Kuang Heng, of the University of Tokyo’s security research department.
“And after Tokyo relaxed its guidelines on defense exports in 2014, only the second led to the export of air surveillance radar to the Philippines,” he said. Hen said the deal was a “large shot of the arm” for Japan, which was sought to strengthen its defensive manufacturing industry.
Australia’s Minister of Defense, Pat Conroy, said the Mogami-class frigate could launch long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles. “With the acquisition of these stealth frigates, our navy will be a bigger navy and a more deadly navy,” he said.
“The first three Mogami-Class frigates will be built overseas,” Conroy said Western Australian shipbuilding yards are expected to produce the rest.
Australia announced a contract to acquire a US-designed nuclear submarine in 2021, repealing its long-standing plan to develop nuclear-free submarines from France.
The Australian Navy is expected to acquire at least three Virginia-class submarines within 15 years under the three-party auk-US agreement with the US and the UK.
Australian government forecasts that the AUK-US Submarine program alone could cost up to USD 235 billion over the next 30 years.
Australia’s major defense projects have long struggled with cost overruns, government U-turns, policy changes and project planning that make more sense for local job creation than defense.
Australia plans to gradually increase its defensive spending to 2.4% of its domestic gross product. This exceeds the 2% target set by NATO allies, but is quite a 3.5% US demand.
Published – August 5, 2025 03:52 PM IST
