Japan and Australia’s landmark A$10 billion (US$6.5 billion) deal for next-generation warships not only promises to reshape the Indo-Pacific’s security order, analysts say, but also revive Tokyo’s once-moribund defence industry.
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Under the deal, announced earlier his month, Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will produce Mogami-class 11 stealth frigates for the Royal Australian Navy to replace its ageing Anzac-class vessels with a larger, faster and more lethal fleet.
The Mogami-class is a next-generation stealth frigate boasting advanced radar and sonar capabilities, with 32 vertical launch cells capable of firing long-range missiles. Its offensive and defensive capabilities span anti-surface, anti-air and anti-submarine warfare, as well as sophisticated surveillance and mine-sweeping functions.
“Australia’s Anzac-class frigates are now 30 years old,” William Chou, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute think tank in Washington and deputy director of its Japan Chair.
“The Mogami-class represents a significant upgrade in numerous ways: it’s larger, faster, has more range, is able to fire more missiles at once, and carries a stealth profile.”
Announcing the agreement on August 5, Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles said that the decision had followed a rigorous international tender.
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