Australia, Japan sign contracts on $10b warship deal
Australia and Japan sign contracts launching landmark $10 billion deal to supply warships to Australia; This was Tokyo’s most significant military sale since the end of its military export ban in 2014.
Defense Ministers Richard Marles and Shinjiro Koizumi signed a memorandum of understanding that “reaffirms the joint commitment of the Australian and Japanese governments to the successful delivery of the warships,” Marles said on Saturday.
The agreement reached in August strengthens Japan’s push to move away from its post-war pacifism and establish security ties against China beyond its alliance with the United States.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will supply the Royal Australian Navy with three upgraded Mogami-class multi-role frigates built in Japan from 2029. Eight more frigates will be built in Australia.
Japan’s Ministry of Defense reported in X that Koizumi and Marles “welcomed the signing of contracts for General Purpose Frigates and confirmed that they will further strengthen bilateral defense ties” at the signing in Melbourne.
Marles said contracts for the first three frigates to be built in Japan had been signed before the “transition to land-based construction” at the Henderson shipyard near Perth in Western Australia.
Australia plans to deploy the ships, designed to hunt submarines, attack surface ships and provide air defense, to defend critical maritime trade routes and northern approaches in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, where China’s military footprint is expanding.
