Royal Australian Navy Bulking Up

By Dr. Ann Griffiths, 6 August 2025

Australia is serious about building up its navy. In June 2018, the BAE Systems Type 26 frigate was selected to bulk up the navy in the Future Frigate Program. Construction on the Hunter-class began in June 2024, and the first ship is expected to be delivered in 2032. But that’s not the end of it. On 5 August 2025, Australia announced that it had accepted the bid of a Japanese company to build more warships. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ Mogami-class frigate won the deal over several rival bids. Aside from the ship itself, the agreement sends a message to China that Japan and Australia will be working closely together and it will now be more difficult to play them off against each other.  

The fleet of 11 ships will replace Australia’s ageing ANZAC-class ships. Three of the frigates will be built in Japan, with the first scheduled to be operational in 2030, and the remaining eight will be built in Australia. Australia’s Minister for Defense Industry said the Mogami-class frigate was a “clear winner” when assessed by “cost, capability and meeting our schedule of delivery.” The vessels have a range of up to 10,000 nautical miles (18,520 kilometres) and 32 vertical launch cells capable of launching long-range missiles. The frigates can operate with a crew of 90, compared to the 170 needed on the ANZAC-class ships.

Australian officials said work on a binding contract with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the government of Japan would now begin, with a finalized agreement expected in 2026. They did not say how much each ship would cost or confirm a total figure for the package, but the Australian government had allowed AU$10 billion for the project over the next 10 years. It forms part of the AU$55 billion that Australia has budgeted for the navy’s entire surface combatant fleet during the same period. See “Australia selects Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for $6.5B warship deal,” by Charlotte Graham-McLay, Associated Press, 5 August 2025.

Image: The first Mogami-class frigate in the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Forces. Credit: Hiroshi miyaji, Wikimedia