Australia and Japan signed contracts on Saturday (18 April) launching their landmark A$10 billion ($7 billion) deal to supply Australia with warships, Tokyo's most consequential military sale since ending a military export ban in 2014.
Defence Ministers Richard Marles and Shinjiro Koizumi signed a memorandum "reaffirming the Australian and Japanese governments' shared commitment to the successful delivery" of the warships, Marles said in a statement.
The deal struck in August anchors Japan's push away from its postwar pacifism to forge security ties beyond its alliance with the U.S. to counter China.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is to supply the Royal Australian Navy with three upgraded Mogami-class multi-role frigates built in Japan from 2029. Eight more frigates will be built in Australia.
Japan's Defence Ministry posted on X that Koizumi and Marles welcomed the "conclusion of contracts for General Purpose Frigates, and confirmed to further strengthen bilateral defence ties" in the signing in Melbourne.
Contracts were signed for the first three frigates, to be built in Japan, before there is a "transition to an onshore build" at the Henderson shipyard near Perth in Western Australia, Marles said.
The Japanese designed vessels will reportedly have a range of up to 10,000 nautical miles and be equipped with a 32-cell vertical launch system, surface-to-air missiles and anti-ship missiles.
Australia plans to deploy the ships- designed to hunt submarines, strike surface ships and provide air defence- to defend critical maritime trade routes and its northern approaches in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, where China's military footprint is expanding.
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Maritime trackers received new reports of an attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), adding to concerns about energy supplies after Saudi Arabia shut down a vital oil pipeline on Saturday.
A Kyiv-Warsaw train was struck near the Polish border, Ukraine's state railway firm said on Sunday. No passengers were injured. Ukrainian Railways said that the country's railways were facing systematic attacks for a second day and warned of widespread delays.
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A Russian strike on a farm warehouse in Pryluky, north-central Ukraine, has killed at least three people, local police said. Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said an attack on a train near the Polish border was an attempt to intimidate Ukraine's allies.
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Foreign ministers of Cambodia and Thailand delivered opening statements on Tuesday at the first meeting of a UN arbitration process to resolve a long-running maritime dispute between the two Southeast Asian neighbours.
A federal judge has halted a Trump administration immigration policy that would have significantly changed how long foreign students, exchange visitors and international journalists can remain in the United States.
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