‘Absolutely the best ship': Japan wins $10bn contract to grow Australia's war fleet
Australia will spend $10bn over a decade to buy three Mogami-class frigates, part of a wider deal to replace the ageing Anzac-class frigates and give the navy a bigger and more lethal surface combatant fleet.
The first three will be built in Japan by 2034, before construction moves to the Henderson naval precinct in Western Australia.
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The Mogami operates with about 90 crew, down from about 120 on the current generation of warships. It is currently in service for the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force.
The defence minister, Richard Marles, and defence industry minister, Pat Conroy, would not say what the estimated total cost of the program will be, citing upcoming commercial negotiations with Mitsubishi.
Marles said geopolitical tensions with China did not play a role in the decision, which was signed off on Monday night by cabinet's national security committee.
'The Mogami is absolutely the best ship and that was very clear in all the advice that we received,' Marles said.
'It is a next-generation vessel. It is stealthy, it has 32 vertical launch cells capable of launching long-range missiles, it has a highly capable radar, it has a highly capable sonar.'
German firm TKMS – previously branded as ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems – had been considered for the deal, but its Meko A-200 vessel was considered second best to the Japanese model, including over concerns about the timeline for delivery and putting the ships into service.
Japan has not previously manufactured frigates for other nations, while TKMS has sold to navies around the world.
Both bids included heavy lobbying of the federal government. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with his Japanese counterpart, Shigeru Ishiba, on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada in June, as well as with Germany's chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
Defence is expected to enter into binding, commercial contracts for the deal by 2026.
Marles said Japan beat out the German option based on capability of the new vessels.
'We do have a very close strategic alignment with Japan. There's no other country in the world that is quite as aligned with Australia as Japan.'
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The Mogami frigate has a range of up to 10,000 nautical miles, is fitted with surface-to-air missiles and anti-ship missiles and comes with sophisticated vertical launch capability.
'In terms of cost, capability and meeting our schedule of delivery, the Mogami-class frigate was the clear winner,' Conroy said.
He said the US-made Lockheed Martin combat system and a Japanese-made radar system would be replaced with Australian systems, but no other changes would be permitted without approval of the Defence department boss and chief of the defence force, in consultation with the federal government.
'This is a lesson we've learnt from previous acquisitions and guarantees speed to capability,' Conroy said. This will help make good on our commitment to deliver four times as many warships in the next 10 years, compared to the Coalition's plan.'
Marles and Conroy also announced plans for a new strategic shipbuilding agreement with a new arm of the government-controlled shipbuilding company, Austal Defence Shipbuilding Australia Pty Ltd.
Based at Fremantle, Austal is the only major shipbuilder with operations in Australia.
It will build 18 new medium landing crafts for Defence, as well as eight heavy vessels. That deal is currently being negotiated with the federal government.
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