Australia wants to upgrade its Navy with 11 frigates from Japan, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marls said on Tuesday.
“This is clearly the largest defense industry agreement that has ever been killed between Japan and Australia,” said Marls.
The deal of $ 10 billion Australian dollars ($ 6.5 billion or € 5.6 billion) saw that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries honored the Tender for Supply Mogami-Class Warships by defeating the Thessencip Marine System of Germany.
Deal Australia-Japan is getting fed up with partnership
Japan is one of the most important partners in Australia in the Indo-Pacific sector.
“This decision was made on the basis of what was the best ability for Australia,” Marls said. “We have a very close strategic alignment with Japan.”
Mogami frigates are advanced warships that are equipped with a powerful array of weapons.
“Mogami-Class Frigate is the best frigate for Australia,” said Marls.
“It is a next generation ship. It is secretly. It has 32 vertical launch cells that are capable of launching long -range missiles.”
Japan’s first warship exports before WWII
According to the Japanese dialect was seen as “more expensive and high risk” Australian Newspaper.
This is because Japan has very little history of exporting defense equipment, a legacy of its pacifying constitution introduced the Best Second World War.
The deal is Japan’s first Wartship Export before World War II and only its second major defense package sold abroad.
Australia says that the first three general-purpose frigates with a reminder built in western Australia will be made offshore.
Mrs. Heavy Industries has never built warships in a foreign country, Australian wrote.
Australia UPS defense spending amidst China’s military buildup
Australia announced a major reorganization of its army in 2023, turning to long distance strike capabilities to give better response to China’s military expansion.
It is trying to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 in the next 10 years.
The frigate contract is Australia’s largest defense procurement since 2021, when it motivates to buy and create a fleet of nuclear-managed submarines under the tripartite oxal agreement with the United States and the United Kingdom.
Japan had originally lost an earlier bid for France to win a non-nuclear submarine contract, although the contract was a subsidy in favor of America’s design submarines.
Edited by: Srinivas Majumdaru
