OPINION | Australia to enhance naval firepower with Japanese frigate design

If all goes to plan, Australia will receive its first made-in-Japan frigate in 2029. The choice of the upgraded Mogami design of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries means the Royal Australian Navy will replace its fading Anzac-class general-purpose frigates with much larger ships that need fewer crewmembers and carry far more weapons.

The second and third ships of the new class are also due to come from a Japanese shipyard, then up to eight are to be built at Henderson, Western Australia.

The design is called "upgraded Mogami" because it’s enlarged from the original Mogami-class that’s in Japanese service.

With a full-load displacement of 6,200 tonnes, it’s much larger than and has important technical advantages over its German competitor, the 3,700-tonne TKMS Meko A200.

Most notably, the upgraded Mogami has 32 vertical-launch system (VLS) missile cells, double the number in the Meko A200. Each of the seven remaining ships of the 3,600-tonne Anzac-class has only eight VLS cells.

Firepower counts, given the threat posed by China’s increasingly potent capabilities designed to deny other countries use of sea and airspace in wartime.

If the new frigates are to, "help secure our maritime trade routes and our northern approaches", as Defence Minister Richard Marles says, they sometimes will need to be able to go into harm’s way. The extra missile capacity means an upgraded Mogami can stay on station longer, because it can use some missiles and not have to retire for replenishment. And, with more missiles aboard, it’s more likely to survive an attack.

Expect the cells to be loaded mainly with anti-missile and anti-aircraft missiles—probably Raytheon SM-6s for long-range engagements and ESSMs for targets that get closer.

The Mark 41 VLS cells on the upgraded Mogami frigate are of a large type, called "strike length". This means the ships can potentially carry Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles, though, officially, Australia plans to load such weapons only on Hobart-class destroyers. Again, having lots of cells is helpful.

Another advantage of the upgraded Mogami frigate is the smallness of its crew, just 90 people, thanks to extensive automation. The A200 needs 120, and the Anzac-class, which the upgraded Mogami class will replace, about 180. As the Royal Australian Navy struggles to recruit and retain personnel, the leaner complement of the upgraded Mogami design will help keep ships ready for service.

Conceivably, the navy could improve readiness even further by maintaining two crews per ship. The crews for each ship would take turns in going aboard and taking it to sea or standing ready to do so.

The Mogami also has a longer design operational life of 40 years versus 30 years for the Meko A200—though making use of that will depend on how naval technology will develop during the ships’ years of service.

It could do so rapidly and unpredictably. If the first upgraded Mogami becomes operational a year after its 2029 delivery, as planned, it would probably need great modification to get to 2070.

In the end, what may count may not be how long the hull, propulsion and other basic systems last but how easily the ship, with open-systems architecture, can be adapted with new weapons, sensors and equipment that tie them and the crew together—the combat management system.

The frigates will have to work with uncrewed ships, boats and submarines, as crewed-and-autonomous teaming becomes a key aspect of naval operations. The Mogami is indeed designed for such adaptability, including the ability to launch and recover autonomous systems.

A ship’s combat management system is probably one of the most important determinants of capability. While the Meko A200 would have used a Saab 9LV system, already familiar to RAN sailors, since it is used in the Anzac-class, the upgraded Mogami has a Japanese combat management system. It works seamlessly with US Navy systems.

The human interface of a combat management system is a room called the combat information centre (CIC), which on the upgraded Mogami is very advanced. Known as the advanced integrated CIC, it features a 360-degree augmented reality wall that fuses data from electro-optical, infrared and radar sensors. This contributes to easier operation of the ship in all tasks.

The ships are called general-purpose frigates to distinguish them from anti-submarine frigates, such as those of the Hunter-class being built in South Australia.

The Western Australian yard is being redeveloped to allow the building of the frigates and to support operation of Australian Virginia-class nuclear-propelled submarines from 2032. However, this redevelopment has stalled, and Australia must consider whether it should get Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to build more than three upgraded Mogamis, giving us more time to get ready to build ships of the class here.

Article reprinted with permission from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's analysis and commentary site The Strategist.