Australia and Japan sign contracts for $7bn warships deal
Baku, April 20, AZERTAC
Australia and Japan have signed contracts for the first three of 11 warships set to be delivered to the Australian navy under a landmark $7bn defence deal, as the two close US allies in the Asia Pacific region deepen defence cooperation, according to Al Jazeera.
Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles and Japanese Defence Minister Koizumi Shinjiro made the announcement in Melbourne on Saturday at the signing ceremony for the Mogami-class warships.
The “Mogami Memorandum” pledges to deepen military ties, including through “closer industrial cooperation” in defence.
Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will build three of the stealth frigates in southern Nagasaki Prefecture, while Australia’s Austal will build eight in Western Australia.
The first of the Japanese-built warships is scheduled to be delivered in 2029 and enter service in 2030.
“Our surface fleet is more important than at any time in decades,” Marles said in a statement.
“These general-purpose frigates will help secure our maritime trade routes and northern approaches as part of a larger and more lethal surface combatant fleet.”
Shinjiro said closer defence coordination was becoming more important as Australia and Japan faced an “increasingly severe security environment”.
Australia’s government last year announced that it had chosen Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to build its fleet of next-generation warships, following a bidding war between the Tokyo-based firm and Germany’s Thyssenkrupp.
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