Australia selects Japanese Mogami-class frigate offer over German rival

 

One of the Mogami-class frigate of the JMSDF. Photo c/o Navy Lookout.

Japanese media outlets have reported that the offer from Japan and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) to supply modified Mogami-class frigates for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) has been selected, although a formal announcement is yet to be made by the Australian Government.

Japan’s Nikkei reported that a senior Australian government official already informed the Japanese government about the decision, with a formal announcement set to be made within this week.

Japan and MHI’s proposal was among the two shortlisted proposals to fulfill a requirement for 11 new general purpose frigates for the Royal Australian Navy’s “Tier 2” Surface Combatant requirement under the SEA 3000 Program to replace its ageing fleet of German-designed, Australian-made ANZAC-class frigates.

The other shortlisted offer was from Germany and ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), which offered a variant of their MEKO A-200, which incidentally is a highly improved design originally based on the MEKO 200 used on the ANZAC-class frigates.

With the decision, it is expected that the Australian Government will be proceeding with contract negotiations, specifically on several other factors including technology transfer; terms on local construction of some of the ships at the Henderson shipyard in Western Australia; price and payment terms.

The use of Japanese-made subsystems would be among the main highlights, as the proposal included the use of off-the-shelf solutions to speed-up the construction of the ships, reduce integration delays, and reduce or eliminate potential cost overruns due to pursuing the integration of Western subsystems already in service with the RAN.

It is also believed that there would be potential adjustments to the plan on constructing some of the ships in Australia, as there are questions on the timely availability of the proposed local facility to build the ships. Originally the plan was to build 3 ships in the winning shipbuilder’s home country, although this could be expanded to up to 6 ships if depending on the ability to keep up with the project’s schedule.

Japan’s win could also be a political reason, as Japan is one of Australia’s major partners in maintaining the status quo in the Indo-Pacific region and a co-ally of the United States, and is a sign of increasing defense and security cooperation between the two partners.

Should the contract be formalized, this would be landmark for both Japan and Australia. This would be Japan’s biggest defense export with an estimated value of up to A$10 billion (US$6.4 billion), and the first time for Australia to purchase major weapon systems from Japan.

This would also be a big boost for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which have been pushing for the export of Mogami-class variants to other countries including Indonesia, as well as other regional security partners like the Philippines and Vietnam.

[1] Nikkei Asia

[2] Naval News

[3] The Australian