Australia awards navy frigate contract to Mitsubishi Heavy

Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will deliver Australia's new AU$10 billion ($6.5 billion) navy frigate programme, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said on Tuesday.

The frigate contract, expected to be signed by the end of the year, will be the biggest Australian defence purchase since the government agreed to build nuclear-powered submarines with the United States and Britain in 2023, and one of Japan's biggest defence export deals.

"It's going to be really important in terms of giving our navy the capability to project, and impactful projection is at the heart of the strategic challenge," Marles said, adding it was, "a very significant moment in the bilateral relationship between Australia and Japan."

MHI's Mogami frigate was selected over German company Thyssen­Krupp Marine Systems' MEKO A-200 in a meeting of the government's national security committee on Monday.

The upgraded Mogami-class frigate was capable of launching long-range missiles, and had a range of up to 10,000 nautical miles, compared to Australia's current Anzac-class frigates, which had a range of around 6,000 nautical miles, Marles said. It also operated with a smaller crew than the Anzac class.

The government said in 2024 it would spend up to AU$10 billion for the general-purpose frigates to replace the Anzac class. They will be equipped for undersea warfare and air defence to secure maritime trade routes and Australia's northern approaches.

It says the first three general-purpose frigates will be built offshore, with the remainder built in Western Australia.

The first frigate is expected to be delivered in 2029.

(Reporting by Alasdair Pal and Kirsty Needham in Sydney; Editing by Stephen Coates)