Interesting additional details on the Australia's selection of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to build Mogami-class frigates for the Royal Australian Navy.
1. The ships, which are actually Improved Mogami-class frigates (06FFM) rather than the current one (30FFM) are almost exactly the same as the those designed and for delivery to the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force. The only difference will be translating the Combat Management System to English, and for the construction to meet Australian seaworthiness maritime standards, signed off by Australian officials.
This means that Australia will need to find a way to make existing (and future) Japanese subsystems to be interoperable with existing Australian naval subsystems, particularly data transfer and sharing. If Australia and Japan can make this happen, it will allow Japan to also entice other navies like the Philippine Navy to pocure off-the-shelf Japanese warships as the PN uses mostly Western naval subsystems in its ships except for the Korean-made Combat Management System.
2. To sweeten the deal, Japan has offered a shipyard construction slot originally meant for the JMSDF's own 06FFM frigate, which would allow Australia to have their frigate first and reduce the lead time and meet delivery timeframe for the first ship for the Royal Australian Navy to be delivered by 2029, and commissioning by 2030.
3. Australia chose the Mogami-class because it is far modern, more heavily-armed, stealthier, more capable overall, has a longer range, requires less crew, and can be delivered faster than its competitor, German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems' MEKO A200. Supporting a "quasi-ally" and increasing defense cooperation with Japan is an added bonus.
4. Since Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is delivering almost exactly the same ship to Australia as what they will be building for Japan, it is expected that MHI will be spot on their construction and delivery schedule. This would be a far cry to the long duration and massive delays when constructed by an Australian shipbuilder.
5. Australian shipbuilder Austal will be the designated Australian shipbuilding partner of MHI, and will be building a minimum of 6 or a maximum of 8 frigates in their shipyard in Hernderson, Western Australia.
Photo credits to Japan ATLA and Australian Department of Defence.
