Royal Australian Navy selects MEKO 200 and FFM 30 Mogami to replace Anzac-class frigates

In many ways, the Royal Australian Navy's major naval programs resemble Quentin Tarantino films. They always start calmly and in a familiar world, before descending into indescribable chaos.

This was the case with the French submarines to replace the Collins, themselves already very chaotic, and it is today the case with its two main programs of the moment, the nuclear attack submarines of the SSN-AUKUS program, and the Type 26 heavy frigates of the Hunter class.

It is precisely to partly remedy the excesses of this last program that the Royal Australian Navy launched a new, less ambitious program a year ago, aiming to acquire 11 light frigates intended to replace the Anzac class frigates currently in service.

At the end of a first phase, which has just ended, the Australian authorities have revealed the two models of frigates, which will be evaluated during the final phase of this competition, which should end in a year, in 2025, and which should allow the delivery of the first ship, in 2029.

MEKO 200 and Mogami light frigates in final to replace Royal Australian Navy’s Anzac-class frigates

After rejecting Spanish, South Korean and Italian proposals, the Royal Australian Navy has therefore retained, for the final phase of its competition, two models, the light frigate MEKO 200, from the German tKMS, and the frigate FFM 30 Mogami, from the Japanese Mitsubishi. A particularly interesting choice, since in many aspects, these two ships, and the industrial offering they can carry, are radically different.

The MEKO 2000 frigate from the German tKMS, a safe and well-known value for the Royal Australian Navy

By retaining the Meko 200 from the German tKMS, the RAN is, so to speak, sailing in its territorial waters. Indeed, the eight Anzac-class frigates, ordered in 8 and delivered from 1986 to 1996, which the new programme is intended to replace, are precisely derived from this model.

Furthermore, unlike the Collins-class submarines, which entered service at the same time, the Anzacs performed well in the hands of Australian sailors, and the design proved satisfactory to the RAN, although two of the 10 frigates initially ordered were cancelled for budgetary reasons.

Since then, the tKMS model has achieved significant success on the international scene, becoming the most exported Western frigate model in the last thirty years, with 34 examples ordered by eight navies.

Although dated, the model has continued to evolve over the years, and the latest Al-Aziz of the Egyptian Navy, which entered service in 2024, no longer have much in common with the first Greek Yavuz.

The model proposed by tKMS in Australia, named MEKO A210, is thus much heavier and longer than the Anzacs, reaching a loaded tonnage of 4700 tonnes, against 3600 t for the M200. This allows the ship to carry 4 VLS MK41 systems, for 32 vertical silos, in addition to the 127 mm gun, a CIWS, several light remotely operated guns, and a high-energy laser system. Although it is not mentioned, it can be assumed that the ship retains its two 324 mm torpedo tubes for the anti-submarine mission.

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