Overview:
Australia and Japan have formalized a landmark defense agreement, signing a multi-billion-dollar contract for the first three next-generation Mogami frigates during a ceremony in Melbourne. The deal signals deepening strategic ties between the two Indo-Pacific partners and marks a major step in reshaping regional security cooperation and naval capability for the decades ahead.
MELBOURNE, 20 APRIL 2026 (ABC PACIFIC) — Australia and Japan have announced they’ve signed a multi-billion-dollar contract for the first three of Australia’s next generation of warships at a ceremony aboard a Mogami frigate anchored in Melbourne.
Defence Minister Richard Marles and his Japanese counterpart, Koizumi Shinjirō, joined top representatives from the massive Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi Heavy Industries aboard JS Kumano to celebrate the agreement.
The federal government announced in August last year that Mitsubishi had won a fierce battle with a German company for a contract to provide 11 warships to replace Australia’s aging Anzac-class frigates.
There was a sometimes-jubilant atmosphere during the ceremony, with the Chief of Navy and incoming Defence Force Chief Mark Hammon declaring “let’s cut steel” after the two ministers signed a pact called the Mogami Memorandum.
The memorandum reaffirms the joint commitment to the frigates and reduces barriers to defence industry cooperation.
Marles declared that he wanted to create a “seamless” defence industrial base with Japan, which he said would be critical to the success of the frigates program.
“There is no country in the world with whom we have a greater strategic alignment than Japan. And that in turn is underpinned by complete trust,” he said.
Japan’s Defence Minister Koizumi Shinjirō said the frigates programme was a “major step that was finally being taken to elevate our defence relationship to a greater height”.
“This marks a new beginning for us and for our commitment to Australia,” he said.
“I believe there is no limitation on Australia and Japan defence cooperation.”
The first warship is scheduled for delivery in December 2029 and is expected to enter service in 2030.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries says the highly advanced ships are equipped with a 32-cell vertical launch system — as well as anti-ship missiles and surface-to-air missiles — and require a crew of only 90 personnel.
The first three vessels will be built in Japan, but production of the next eight frigates will shift to the Henderson shipyard in Perth, Western Australia, where they will be constructed by Australian firm Austal.
Some analysts are sceptical Australia will be able to deliver the complex construction project in Western Australia, but Marles was adamant today that the remaining frigates would be made in Australia, saying it would be the “backbone” of Australian shipbuilding into the 2030s.
Koizumi brushed off multiple questions about whether Japan would be happy to build more of the frigates, saying Japan was focused on meeting its commitments under the existing contracts.
The federal government hasn’t said exactly how much the Mogami frigate contracts are worth, saying the figure is commercial in confidence.
In 2024, it said the total cost of the frigates programme was about $10 billion (US$7.14 billion) over the next decade, but last week’s defence strategy put the cost at $20 billion (US$14.29 billion) — which also includes money for the redevelopment of Henderson and the shipbuilding infrastructure needed to build the frigates here.
The government insists that there hasn’t been a cost blowout, and the new figure simply reflects the cost of the project over the new time-frame covered by the 2026 strategy.
Marles has always insisted that Defence picked the Mogami frigate because Mitsubishi Heavy Industries offered a significantly superior ship with the capabilities that Australia needs.
But the decision also has clear strategic implications and has been seen as a signal that Australia is determined to cement its “quasi-alliance” with Japan.
Koizumi Shinjiro and Richard Marles sit looking at each other at the opposite sides of a table alongside other people.
Japan is in the midst of a significant shift in its strategic and military posture in the face of increasing aggression from China and the unpredictability of the Trump administration.
It has moved to relax restrictions on defence exports and loosen the constraints imposed by its pacifist post-War constitution.
China has sharply criticised Japan’s recent shift, saying it risks undermining regional stability and departing from its post-war pacifist commitments.
Beijing has also repeatedly expressed concern about military alignments in the Indo-Pacific, including AUKUS and Japan’s evolving security posture, saying they could heighten regional tensions.
But Koizumi said countries in the region saw it positively and realised that Tokyo was solely focused on increasing “deterrence capabilities” in order to avoid “war and conflict”.
Marles threw Australia’s weight behind the move, saying Japan was an “industrial powerhouse”.
“The relaxation of these controls is going to be really important to developing the seamless defence industrial base we’ll need to deliver the Mogami project,” he said…. PACNEWS