Will Australia’s Next Frigates Come from Japan?

30 Mei 2024

 JS Yahagi fifth Mogami class frigate (photo: Reddit)

As Australia prepares to replace some of its aging frigates, Canberra has identified Japan's advanced Mogami-class multimission warships, operated by the Maritime Self-Defense Force, as one of up to five potential candidates for that role.

The Mogami frigates were shortlisted in a February report by the Australian government stating that the RAN is seeking between seven and 11 general-purpose frigates optimized for undersea warfare as part of Canberra’s efforts to more than double the size of its surface combatant fleet to address potential threats farther away from its national borders.

Also identified in the report were Germany’s Meko A-200, South Korea’s Daegu-class FFX Batch II and III, and Spain’s Navantia ALFA 3000, with the report pointing to these ships as “exemplars to form the basis of a selection process.”

Among the broad requirements set by Canberra are the vessels’ ability to embark a combat helicopter, deploy lightweight torpedoes, feature air defenses as well as maritime and land strike capabilities, while also maintaining smaller crews than the Anzac frigates it commissioned in the 1990s and early 2000s.

The new FFM was unveiled at Indo Pacific 2023 in Syndey (photo: NavalNews)

The Mogami ships are also in a cycle of continued modification as the MSDF is acquiring them in two batches of 12 ships each, with the second batch — a more capable version — to be procured from 2024 until 2028.

To get the frigates as quickly as possible — the first one needs to be in the water by 2029 — the three initial vessels would be built overseas in the yard of the designer while manufacturing of the remaining ships would transition to Henderson in Western Australia.

Canberra’s decision to co-develop the frigate with Japan would mark “a massive leap forward for this bilateral engagement,” Dean said.

Analysts say that the winner will need to be chosen within the next 12 months.

“This is unprecedented speed in Australia with a defense system known to be slow and cumbersome,” said Bergmann, noting what he said were successive Australian governments’ failures to make timely decisions about the RAN’s future.

See full article Japan Times

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