Japan Is Selling Three New Frigates to Australia

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The deal between Mitsubishi and the Royal Australian Navy is likely to improve security ties between Australia and Japan, and further integrate Tokyo into an Indo-Pacific defense framework.

The Japanese government has eased restrictions on the export of defense systems—long a taboo in the East Asian country, which nominally renounced war in its constitution but has spent more than a decade building up a robust domestic defense industry as competition with China has heated up.

The policy change opens the door to overseas warship sales, presenting new opportunities for IHI Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), and other shipbuilders. Indeed, this week, MHI was awarded a contract to build the first three of a planned 11 Mogami-class frigates for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in a deal valued at AUD $10 billion (USD $6.5 billion). The remaining eight frigates will be built at a Western Australian state shipyard.

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and his Australian counterpart Richard Marles met aboard the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) Mogami-class frigate JS Kumano in Melbourne on Saturday to sign the contracts.

The Japanese warships were selected by........

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