Japan to begin talks to export Mogami frigates to New Zealand following Australian selection.

Japan is preparing formal negotiations to export its upgraded Mogami-class frigate, the New FFM, to New Zealand, according to Kyodo News on May 26, 2026, a move that could extend Australia’s SEA 3000 decision into a broader Indo-Pacific naval integration framework. The potential deal matters beyond ship sales because it would align three U.S.-partner navies around a shared frigate platform optimized for long-range Pacific operations, lower manpower demand, and expanded missile capacity at a time when regional maritime competition and force-distribution requirements are intensifying.

The New FFM combines a 32-cell Mk 41 VLS configuration, advanced AESA radar, anti-submarine warfare sensors, and heavy automation in a 6,200-ton platform requiring a crew of roughly 90 sailors, giving New Zealand a way to sustain blue-water combat capability despite severe personnel shortages. If Wellington selects the Japanese design over the British Type 31, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand would field a common surface combatant architecture across the Southwest Pacific, strengthening coalition interoperability, logistics integration, and distributed maritime firepower through the 2030s and 2040s.

Related topic: Japan orders 3 Upgraded Mogami-class frigates to carry more missiles in Pacific operations

Compared to Mogami-class frigates such as the JS Kumano, the New FFM doubles missile capacity, vastly increases structural and electrical margins for future weapons integration, and extends maximum cruising endurance to 10,000 nautical miles. (Picture source: NZ MoD)

According to Kyodo News on May 26, 2026, Japan began preparations for formal negotiations with New Zealand concerning a potential export of the upgraded Mogami-class frigate, designated New FFM, extending a trilateral naval-industrial structure already established through Australia’s SEA 3000 procurement decision of August 2025. The issue is expected to be addressed during a meeting in Singapore involving Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, New Zealand Defense Minister Chris Penk, and Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Richard Marles during the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on 29–31 May 2026.

Wellington is evaluating the Japanese frigate against Babcock’s Type 31 for the replacement of HMNZS Te Kaha and HMNZS Te Mana, commissioned in 1997 and 1999. The Japanese proposal centers on a 142-meter frigate with a 6,200 tons full-load displacement, integrating 32 Mk 41 VLS cells, CODAG propulsion, OPY-2-derived AESA radar, variable-depth and towed-array sonar, and a crew requirement of roughly 90 personnel. Furthermore, Japan’s April 2025 revision of its defense export regulations permitting exports of jointly developed lethal systems created the legal basis for negotiations.

Australia’s earlier selection also transformed the New FFM into a regional production and sustainment program linking Japanese shipyards, Australian assembly infrastructure, and potentially future New Zealand Navy procurement. New Zealand’s frigate requirement is shaped primarily by manpower constraints, fleet age, operating distance, and sustainment economics. The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) currently fields two Anzac-class frigates, two Protector-class Offshore Patrol Vessels, and HMNZS Canterbury across an Exclusive Economic Zone exceeding four million square kilometers, but the 2025 Defence Capability Plan identified all three ship classes as recapitalization priorities between the late 2020s and late 2030s.

Moreover, personnel shortages exceeded 600 unfilled naval billets by 2024, directly reducing deployment tempo and vessel availability, forcing Wellington to prioritize automation and low manpower demand in future acquisitions. The Japanese Mogami-class was designed around a crew complement of approximately 90 personnel, substantially below most Western frigates in the 5,000 to 7,000 ton category, where crews commonly range from 140 to over 200 personnel. New Zealand also requires sustained operational endurance for South Pacific territories, Southern Ocean patrol areas, and coalition operations several thousand nautical miles from domestic support facilities.

Australia’s adoption of the Upgraded Mogami-class lowers sustainment risk because Wellington could integrate into an existing regional maintenance, software support, logistics, and training network instead of financing an independent support architecture for a fleet of only two ships. The Upgraded Mogami, also known as the New FFM, emerged after Japanese planners concluded that the original Mogami-class frigate lacked sufficient reserve margins for future weapons integration, electrical generation, and blue-water operations.

The original 30FFM program entered JMSDF service beginning in 2022 and initially aimed to build 22 ships, replacing destroyer escorts and mine warfare vessels assigned to the 10th Escort Squadron and Mine Warfare Force. In January 2023, Japan’s Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency (ATLA) initiated the transition toward the enlarged New FFM configuration, reducing the planned number of baseline Mogami-class ships from 22 to 12. Standard displacement increased from approximately 3,900 tons to 4,880 tons, while full-load displacement rose to approximately 6,200 tons.

Hull length expanded from roughly 133 meters to 142 meters, and beam widened from 16.3 meters to approximately 17 meters, creating additional volume for vertical launch systems, electrical reserves, command facilities, and future modernization. Japan simultaneously accelerated its procurement tempo, planning to acquire 12 New FFM hulls between fiscal years 2024 and 2028, with the FY2025 defense budget allocating approximately 314.8 billion yen for the construction of three vessels. 

The propulsion arrangement remains centered on a CODAG configuration combining one gas turbine with two diesel engines driving twin shafts and conventional screw propellers, enabling speeds exceeding 30 knots while preserving long-range cruising efficiency across Pacific operating distances. The baseline Mogami-class uses a Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbine combined with MAN Diesel 12V28/33D STC diesel engines generating roughly 70,000 horsepower, and Australia confirmed on April 21, 2026, that Rolls-Royce would supply MT30 turbines for Australian ships. Japanese naval planning also prioritized reduced manpower demand over traditional redundancy models, due to demographic and recruitment pressures affecting Japan, Australia, and New Zealand simultaneously.

The combat information center integrates navigation, engineering supervision, tactical management, machinery control, and sensor fusion into a unified digital architecture supported by panoramic displays and centralized monitoring systems. Automation now extends into propulsion management, mission system operation, damage control monitoring, and watchstanding functions, allowing the enlarged New FFM frigate to retain a target crew below 100 personnel despite significantly greater displacement and missile capacity than the original Mogami-class. 

The most consequential modification introduced by the New FFM is the expansion from 16 to 32 Mk 41 vertical launch cells integrated forward of the bridge structure. The Australian variant is expected to field RIM-162 ESSM interceptors, SeaRAM close-in defense systems, Naval Strike Missiles, and Mk 54 lightweight torpedoes, while Japanese vessels will integrate the Type 23 ship-to-air missile and the Type 07 vertical-launch anti-submarine rocket. This Mk 41 configuration also creates compatibility with larger weapons, including Tomahawk-sized land-attack missiles and future long-range interceptors unavailable on the earlier Mogami layout.

Radar architecture derives from the OPY-2 AESA family, while sonar systems combine variable-depth sonar and towed-array sonar optimized for anti-submarine warfare in large oceanic environments. The combat architecture incorporates Japan’s FC-network concept, broadly comparable to the U.S. Navy cooperative engagement doctrine, enabling distributed targeting and sensor sharing between ships and aircraft. Structural reinforcement and electrical reserves were also intentionally expanded on the Upgraded Mogami to support future integration of directed-energy systems, larger radar arrays, upgraded electronic warfare suites, and next-generation unmanned systems. 

Australia’s SEA 3000 decision fundamentally altered the scale and export profile of Japan's New FFM program. On August 5, 2025, Canberra formally selected the Japanese proposal over Germany’s MEKO A-200 after evaluating delivery timelines, interoperability with U.S-origin combat systems, industrial participation, and lifecycle sustainment costs. The agreement covers 11 frigates, with the first three scheduled for construction in Japan by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries before production transitions to Western Australia, where the remaining eight ships will be assembled by Austal Defence Shipbuilding at the Henderson maritime complex.

Initial operational service is expected around 2030, as Tokyo reportedly slowed portions of its own domestic procurement schedule to allocate production slots for Australia, demonstrating the political importance attached to the agreement. The deal also became Japan’s largest postwar export arrangement involving a surface combatant and represented the country’s first export of a major warship design since the easing of defense export restrictions in 2014. Japan’s broader strategy surrounding the New FFM combines industrial policy, export expansion, and long-term operational integration with Indo-Pacific partners such as New Zealand.

Tokyo revised its defense export regulations in April 2025 to authorize exports of jointly developed lethal systems to states holding defense equipment and technology transfer agreements with Japan, and Japanese authorities are considering such an arrangement with New Zealand. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Japan Marine United are already expanding their production infrastructure to sustain accelerated shipbuilding rates and preserve supplier chains supporting Japanese naval construction. Japan’s FY2025 defense budget allocated approximately 314.8 billion yen for three New FFM hulls, reflecting the shift toward higher-volume procurement.

Tokyo also views common naval systems as a mechanism for operational integration in anti-submarine warfare, maritime surveillance, missile defense, logistics coordination, and distributed fleet operations without requiring formal alliance expansion. If New Zealand adopts the Upgraded Mogami, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand would operate the same Mogami frigate family with compatible VLS systems, combat software, logistics chains, maintenance procedures, and training pipelines across the Southwest Pacific during the 2030s and 2040s. 

To date, the principal alternative remains the British Type 31 frigate, which offers a different sustainment and industrial integration model to New Zealand, centered on Commonwealth naval infrastructure and an active Royal Navy production line. The Type 31 emphasizes modularity, lower acquisition cost, and production maturity, while also benefiting from existing industrial relationships within New Zealand’s support sector. The Japanese proposal instead prioritizes lower manpower demand, larger missile capacity through its 32-cell configuration, and direct interoperability with Australia’s future fleet structure.

Wellington, therefore, faces a strategic choice involving long-term integration into either a British/Commonwealth sustainment ecosystem or an emerging Japanese-Australian naval architecture. A combined Japan-Australia-New Zealand New FFM fleet would create a shared surface combatant structure across the Southwest Pacific, adding several hundred Mk 41 launch cells to allied Indo-Pacific naval inventories while simplifying coalition operations through common software baselines, sensors, logistics systems, and maintenance infrastructure.

Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.