A model of the Improved Mogami class on display at Indo Pacific 2025. (Janes/Ridzwan Rahmat)
Australia’s fleet of Improved Mogami-class frigates are being built to accommodate the Naval Strike Missile (NSM), a representative from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has confirmed.
Speaking to Janes at the Indo Pacific International Maritime Exposition 2025 in Sydney, the representative said that this will be the major difference between the Improved Mogami-class frigates that are being built for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and the ones that are being built for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF).
Instead of the NSM, the Improved Mogami-class frigates being built for Japan will be equipped with the improved Type 12 missile.
Other than the choice of anti-ship missiles, which will be carried amidships, the Australian warships will be equipped with largely the same weapons and sensors as the ones that are being built for the JMSDF, the MHI representative added.
These include the Improved Mogami class’ Unified Complex Radio Antenna (UNICORN) main mast and a four-faceted OPY-2 X-band multifunction radar system on the superstructure.
Similarly, both the Australian and Japanese variants will also be armed with a 127 mm Mk 45 Mod 4 naval gun in the primary position, an aft-facing SeaRAM air-defence system turret above the helicopter hangar, and a 32-cell Mk 41 vertical launching system (VLS).
Australia announced in August that it has selected MHI’s Improved Mogami-class frigate as the preferred platform for the RAN’s general-purpose frigate requirements.
These new vessels will replace the RAN’s fleet of ageing Anzac-class frigates that have been in service since the 1990s.
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