Australia will purchase 11 Japanese-made frigates in what will be Tokyo’s biggest-ever postwar defense contract, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles announced Tuesday, in a major breakthrough for Japan’s defense industry.
Marles said that Canberra intends to adopt a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) proposal to build the Mogami-class frigates for the Royal Australian Navy.
The decision by Canberra’s National Security Committee means that MHI and its upgraded Mogami-class frigate has been chosen as the preferred partner in Australia’s decadelong Project Sea 3000 over Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, which offered its Meko A-200.
The winning bid is expected to be a boon for Japan’s defense industry, but it will also substantially deepen military and industrial cooperation between Tokyo and Canberra at a time when the quasi-allies are gearing up to expand ties across the board amid shared security concerns.
Under the project — which has a budget of between 7 billion and 11 billion Australian dollars ($4.3 billion to $6.8 billion) over the next decade — Canberra is seeking frigates optimized for undersea warfare to replace its Anzac-class warships.
