Giant cranes dot the coastline near Nagasaki, the ancient port city in south-western Japan that became famous as the second, and last, place on Earth to be hit by a nuclear bomb during wartime.
The heavy machinery, nestled in narrow bays beneath steep and forested hills, is a testament to the area’s maritime heritage, which began hundreds of years ago when Europeans first made contact in Japan.
Nagasaki’s history is tied to the slip yards and giant hangars that since the mid-1850s have built and launched ships, including for the Japanese navy. Indeed, a reason the city was chosen in August 1945 as the target of the United States’ Fat Man nuclear explosive was its productive shipbuilding and munitions factories.
Next month one of the Japanese navy’s newest vessels will be launched with much fanfare by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. MHI, a vast corporate conglomerate with operations as diverse as air-conditioning and aerospace, pumps out ships with a relentless efficiency that some Western shipbuilders can only hope to emulate. And while this warship’s launch will be just one of many in the country’s continuous shipbuilding program, in Japan and Australia, important eyes will be watching.
Rolling off the production line will be Japan’s 11th Mogami frigate. The high-tech warships look eerily slick and have smooth surfaces. (It’s a stealth measure, but more on that later.) The new boat will be named after a river or a mountain, in the Japanese tradition, and will eventually join the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force, as the nation’s navy is now known.
The Mogami has smooth surfaces and little equipment on deck, which gives it stealth bomber vibes.Credit: MHI
The intense interest in Japan’s Mogami has come about because Australia is about to spend $10 billion on a new fleet of 11 general-purpose frigates, known as the SEA3000 project, and MHI is locked in a battle with the German boatbuilder Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) to be the provider.
Australia’s plan is to acquire this fleet of frigates quickly to help replace the Anzac-class frigates, which are approaching the end of their service, and fill the gap before eventual arrival of Australia’s larger Hunter-class heavy frigate, expected in 2032.
The decision to go with the Japanese Mogami or the German MEKO A-200 will be made by the Albanese government by the end of this year. To keep the timeline tight, the first three ships will be made overseas, with the next eight to be built in Australia. The first ship will be delivered in 2029.
Master and commander
Atsushi Izumi has been the commander of a Mogami frigate and is the naval officer tasked with giving me a technical briefing on the ship’s capabilities.
Speaking through an interpreter, he says the first thing he noticed on taking command was the ship’s lower crew numbers. “When I first had the opportunity and started working on the vessel, my impression is that there’s been a lot of automation and also considerable reduction of manpower,” he says. He says Mogami needs only 90 crew, while other frigates require about 120.
The first thing that struck Commander Atsushi Izumi about the Mogami frigates was how few crew were needed in comparison with other vessels.
Central to the reduction in numbers, he explains, is a nerve centre within the ship called the Combat Information Centre (CIC), which controls a number of functions that used to be shared among many teams and locations. I’m shown a diagram of circle surrounded by screens, and Izumi says this hub controls multiple systems, including weapons, fire control, engine and communications. Everything has been “concentrated” in this area, so fewer crew are needed.
It is a briefing thick with acronyms as he runs through the technical capabilities and weapons functions. I glean that the Mogami is both a mine sweeper and a mine layer, largely automated and equipped with unmanned surface and underwater vehicles. “Again, because of that quality, because they are unmanned, humans do not have to go to the mine area, so from a considerable distance, they can fulfil their mission,” Izumi says.
Izumi is keen to speak about the stealth aspects of the ship, which aesthetically gives off mild B2 bomber vibes.
“The design is done in such a way that radar cross-section has been reduced. So the design, you’ll notice, normally, there is a lot of this equipment on deck, but all that has been internalised,” he says.
There’s a general discussion about the frigate’s exhaust, which is spread out in vents instead of a funnel and therefore reduces its heat signature for infrared. Mentioned also is its “unicorn” mast, which possesses stealth capabilities.
The Mogami’s weapons systems include surface-to-surface missiles (SSM) and a missile self-defence system (SEARAM), while an “upgraded” Mogami, which is the design Australia would acquire, will have 32 vertical launch system missile cells (VLS). It also fits a Seahawk helicopter.
One slightly spooky aspect of the ship is that each crew member wears a sensor, like a smartwatch, that monitors their locations and vital signs, and sends information to watchers who can tell where the submariners are, what they’re doing, and whether they are alive or dead.
Self-defence to regional defender
Exporting defence technology is a relatively new thing in Japan. Article 9 of the nation’s postwar constitution explicitly renounced war, and for many decades Japan was considered pacifist. Its land, sea and air forces to this day retain the title of “self-defence forces”.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in his second term in office, pushed for a more robust military and a “proactive” approach to peace. From 2013, he introduced laws that upgraded the defence ministry and the national security architecture, and led the country to pursue more advanced defence technologies.
“Basically, we haven’t changed the meaning of self-defence, but we changed the interpretation,” says a senior Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs source in a background briefing.
Japan now has broader scope to engage in foreign conflicts for what it calls the collective self-defence of the nation and allies. There’s more defence co-ordination and joint exercises with the US and a group they consider like-minded nations, which includes Australia. These “mini-lateral” relationships in the region are a key pillar of Japan’s security plans.
The Niyodo Mogami frigate in Nagasaki in May this year.Credit: MHI
In short, Japan’s military has muscled up. The reason is what Tokyo’s national security officials describe as “the most severe and complex environment since the end of World War II”. Three nations are singled out for the changed security environment: China, North Korea and Russia.
Japan sees China as a rapidly expanding military power with territorial ambitions in the South China and East China Seas, not least the Senkaku Islands (known in China as the Diaoyu Islands), which Japan holds. North Korea pushes its nuclear program and missile activity while Russia is accelerating military activities in East Asia.
In recent years, Japan has spent more on defence. A lot more. It has a target of 2 per cent of GPD by 2027. A senior Japanese defence official expects a five-year total defence budget of 43 trillion yen (about $430 billion).
The Mogami program is a good example of how some of that capital is being deployed. Between 2019 and 2034, Japan will build and deliver a remarkable 24 ships.
And so, within about 10 years, Japan has gone from largely pacifist to a military technology exporter.
Natural partners
The modern Mogami frigate is named after a river in north-eastern Honshu, Japan’s main island. It’s not the first Japanese naval vessel to carry this name. In the 1930s, a heavy cruiser called Mogami featured in the Imperial Japanese Navy and was later sunk in World War II.
Major General Yuki Sakata, spokesman for the Japanese Self-Defence Force in Tokyo.
Credit: David King
I’m meeting with one of Japan’s senior military figures, Major-General Yuki Sakata, the spokesman for Japan’s armed forces. I’m keen to ask about the boat and leap straight in with questions about whether Australia should buy them. But Sakata wants to take a step back.
“We are natural partners,” he says. “Japan and Australia hold a special position as allies.
“And really, countries that are like-minded, that share the same values, it’s very important that we are allied in this Indo-Pacific region.”
There’s no missing his warmth towards Australia. He served with Australians in peacekeeping operation in East Timor, and tells a good story about finding an Australian diplomat in Dili in a tight spot and bundling him into a car and delivering him safely to the embassy.
Japan’s strong strategic relationship with Australia plays into the frigate equation and its desire to strike a deal with a like-minded nation and increase security in the region. It’s an important strategic goal.
“When we look at Mogami and we talk about this particular equipment and what’s going to be decided there … if Australia does make that decision to go with us, I think it will also have a very symbolic and significant meaning in the region, and send a message to other nations as well, especially ASEAN countries.”
Sakata says Australia and Japan have a quasi-alliance. “I think there is a possibility that it could become an ‘alliance’ in the future. We already have a Japan, United States, Australia, it’s sort of like a partnership, in place.”
He points to many joint military exercises as evidence of this. In July this year, Japan will again join the US and Australia in exercise Talisman Sabre, sending over hundreds of Japanese marines, known as the Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, for operations in Queensland.
He says that attitudes within Japan have changed towards the military and the defence industry over the years. “People objected tremendously to the military; thinking about even exporting equipment or anything militaristic was frowned upon with a lot of restrictions,” he says. “Now, for example, even our Defence Minister Nakatani is almost like our best salesperson. It’s a whole different ball game.”
Rival bid
The German ship builder TKMS fired a rhetorical torpedo at the Mogami program this month when its chief executive, Oliver Burkhard, said: “I know our competitors. They have never exported in the past.”
The broadside hit one of Japan’s weak spots. It is an extremely efficient boatbuilder at home, where MHI has a decades-long record of no delays and no broken budgets, but hasn’t got the same record of delivering overseas.
The German ship, the MEKO A-200 frigate, was a “wonderful concept” that had “been proven several times”, Burkhard said. “We know what we’re doing.”
The company is already deeply experienced in naval shipbuilding in Australia, with the current Anzac-class fleet based on its design. TKMS has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Saab, which makes the combat system already used by Australian warships.
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Burkhard’s comments expose the risk in the Japanese bid. Eight of the frigates are to be built in Australia, so a different approach to construction is needed. Defence officials in Tokyo say they are ready to meet this challenge. But first, a little history.
Japan was deeply disappointed when it was the unsuccessful bidder in 2016 for $40 billion submarine contract to replace Australia’s Collins-class fleet. It was outflanked late in the piece by the French builder DCNS, which won the deal, until the Morrison government dumped it in favour of the AUKUS submarine pact.
Defence industry sources say that Japan’s submarine bid suffered from a disconnect between industry and government (government wanted the work, industry less so).
This time around, there is a more joined-up approach from the Japanese: cross-government and cross-industry meetings between the private sector and the defence establishment with ministerial involvement; a new agency, ATLA, created for defence acquisitions and technology.
Japanese officials say they are already studying Henderson in Western Australia, where the shipbuilding will take place.
They plan to bring Australian engineers to Japan to be involved in the first builds, and share technology and training to develop the industrial base in Australia and allow the Mogami to be upgraded and maintained over its 40-year lifespan with sustainable jobs. It’s a noble goal.
We just need a ship
Jennifer Parker, a former naval officer and expert associate at the ANU’s National Security College, says the national priority should be to “just get a ship”, with our current fleet in a dire situation. The stakes for Australia are high. Of our 10 surface combatant ships, many are ageing, and will inevitably be in repair or maintenance, leaving only a handful to patrol one of the world’s largest exclusive economic zones.
Looking at pure capabilities, the Mogami is the better ship, she says. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right ship. “It’s not a question of which is the best ship. It is the question of which ship can we acquire and integrate into our current fleet to have an operational capability as quickly as possible,” she says.
She says the answer between the two options isn’t clear, based on everything in the public domain. Japan has stronger strategic relationships with Australia and MHI has the backing of its government, while German TKMS have experience working with the Australian shipbuilding industry and have experience exporting ships. She adds that the appetite for modifications will also influence the decision.
Sam Roggeveen, director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program, says our commitment to buying large warships is misplaced. “There is a role for frigates in the Australian navy, but not for scenarios in which they would face the threat of highly sophisticated anti-ship missiles,” he says. “Modern warships are simply not survivable against adversaries equipped with missiles and, increasingly, drones.”
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Whereas his colleague David Vallance, research associate, favours the Mogami. “I think that the Mogami does make more sense for Australia,” he says. “The upgraded version that the Japanese propose to sell us will have more VLS cells than the German frigate (32 to 16) and a much smaller crew requirement (around 90 compared to 120). With the RAN continuing to suffer from shortfalls in recruitment and retention, the Mogami offers a greater capability than the MEKO while putting less strain on personnel.”
In coming months, the Australian military and government will make the decision, choosing between ships designed by Australia’s WWII adversaries.
Sakata sees it as a historic moment. “Through this opportunity … we can perhaps export some of the technology of our warships and the different equipment that we have, and really join hands with a country like Australia. I feel that this would be a tremendous change in the paradigm as we know it, and I think it would really signify again this 80-year point since the war.”
David King travelled to Japan on a Foreign Press Center Japan fellowship.
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