Australia’s new Mogami-class frigates: How Japan will transform the Royal Australian Navy
Bigger, faster, four times the missile cells and almost half the crew: the Mogami-class frigate replacing the worn-out Anzacs, explained.
Historians might grapple with the irony but the single-biggest change in Australia’s navy in a generation will be arriving under a Japanese flag.
It is testament to how much Australia’s security has evolved since 1945 that the country’s new fleet of naval frigates is being manufactured by Japan, which beat a rival bid by Germany.
In August 2025, the Albanese Government selected an upgraded version of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ Mogami-class vessel as the Royal Australian Navy’s new general-purpose frigate.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.The contract for the first three ships was this year inked aboard Japan’s JS Kumano in Melbourne. The trio will be made at Mitsubishi’s shipyards in Nagasaki. A further eight will be manufactured at Henderson by Perth-founded shipbuilder Austal.
At $20 billion, the price tag gave politicians pause for thought but timing was of the essence.
The ships being replaced are eight Anzac-class frigates which were manufactured by Tenix to German MEKO 200 designs at Williamstown between 1996 and 2006. They are the backbone of the surface fleet and they are worn out, with a 2019 audit revealing “degradation of the ships’ hulls and sub-systems”.
A strategic review commissioned in 2023 gave a blunt assessment of the surface fleet — this was the oldest fleet the RAN had ever operated and its air defence, long-range strike and anti-submarine capacities were wanting.
The resulting blueprint highlighted “the current and deteriorating state of the Anzac-class frigates” and urged that new, general-purpose vessels be acquired quickly.
The Australian Government was prepared to have some of the ships built offshore to get them into service faster.
The navy’s head of capability, Rear Admiral Stephen Hughes, said a “zero design change” purchase — a proven ship bought out of the box with no Australian modifications — was the only route to having steel cut in 2026 and a ship delivered in 2029.
Pressure is now on Japan to deliver on its promise because the Anzac-class retirements have already begun. The first ship is due at the end of 2029, with all three of the Japanese-built frigates operational by 2034.
The Mogami model is what Defence calls a “tier-two combatant”. The 11 vessels are optimised for undersea warfare, which military policymakers believe is critical to securing Australia’s trade routes.
The Mogami workhorses will supplement the RAN’s “tier one” fleet, which comprises three Hobart-class destroyers and six planned Hunter-class frigates.
Those ships carry the Aegis combat system and are designed for high-end air and missile defence in war zones alongside allied fleets.
Almost everything about the new Mogami ship is bigger than the vessel it is replacing.
The Anzacs displace 3810 tonnes at full load and run 118m from stem to stern compared with the Mogamis’ 6200 tonnes and 142m.
Despite the extra bulk, the Mogamis are faster and able to travel further. The Anzacs can steam at up to 27 knots and can cover 6000 nautical miles at 18 knots.
The Mogami exceeds 30 knots and has a reported range of 10,000 nautical miles. The extra distance means a Mogami is able to patrol the Indian Ocean without support.
The firepower gap is starker still. Both ships have a five-inch main gun and accommodate a MH-60R Seahawk helicopter but that’s where the similarities end.
An Anzac carries a single eight-cell Mark 41 vertical launch system capable of holding 32 Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles. The Mogami has four times as many cells and hosts a SeaRAM system for close-quarters firing.
The Australian Mogamis will carry Naval Strike Missiles and Mk 54 torpedoes in place of the Japanese systems.
The extra at-sea endurance and firepower comes with less manpower. Whereas an Anzac goes to sea with 22 officers and 141 sailors, the Mogami needs just 92 people in total.
The Mogamis will be the ninth type of general-purpose frigate the RAN has operated since 1945.
Australia entered the post-war era with a locally-built escort force: eight wartime River-class frigates followed by four more hulls completed according to the Royal Navy’s Bay-class design.
Most of those were scrapped in the early 1970s.
Then came a stopgap measure. Q-class destroyers from Britain were rebuilt as anti-submarine frigates for use until purpose-built ships could be constructed.
Those bespoke vessels were six River-class destroyer escorts of the 1960s and 1970s. Six American Adelaide-class guided missile frigates followed from 1980, the first four of which were bought off the shelf and the last two built at Williamstown.
