Japan has started installing the first Mk 41 vertical launching system (VLS) for a planned fleet of 12 Mogami-class multirole frigates (also known as FFM) for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF).
Japanese shipbuilder Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has installed the first 16-cell Mk 41 VLS on JS Niyodo (FFM-7), or the seventh ship of the Mogami-class, at the company’s Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works in Nagasaki Prefecture. It has been placed on the deck in front of the bridge of the ship, as originally planned.
In the fiscal year 2021 supplementary budget, the Ministry of Defense in Tokyo earmarked 8.4 billion yen ($57 million) for the acquisition of its first two VLSs to be equipped with JS Niyodo and JS Yubetsu, the eighth ship of the Mogami-class.
A spokesperson at the JMSDF confirmed to Naval News that all FFMs after the seventh and eighth ships-in-class onwards will be inducted into service with the weapon system already installed.
These two VLS sets were delivered to the defense ministry during last fiscal year 2024, which ended on March 31, 2025.
The Niyodo was launched in September 2023 and was scheduled to be commissioned in fiscal year 2024. However, the schedule has been delayed and it is now expected to be commissioned in the first half of fiscal year 2025. It is not clear whether the delay in commissioning has made it possible to equip the first VLS on the Niyodo at the time of commissioning, or whether the commissioning is being delayed due to the need to install a VLS.
On March 7, the JMSDF Headquarters Kure District publicly solicited private companies to conduct tests to verify various functions of the Niyodo, including its Mk 41 VLS.
According to the JMSDF’s explanatory materials on the Mogami-class, MHI originally had planned to induce all frigates after the ninth of the Mogami-class JS Natori onwards into service with the VLS already installed, rather than equipping it at a later date. However, now MHI started equipping VLS devices on the seventh ship, JS Niyodo, in line with its commissioning.
JS Natori was launched in June 2024 and scheduled to be commissioned during this fiscal 2025.
A total of 12 Mogami-class FFMs will be built. The MoD has also secured 78.7 billion yen for the acquisition of Mk 41 VLS and other equipment for the remaining 10 Mogami-class vessels in its fiscal year 2023 budget. Out of these 10 VLSs, three are scheduled to be delivered to the MoD in FY2025, four in FY2027, and three in FY2028, an MoD document obtained by Naval News shows.
MHI is the only Japanese company that has signed a direct commercial sale contract with Lockheed Martin for licensed production and testing of the Mk 41 VLS under the approval of the US government.
The Mogami-class frigate is the JMSDF’s stealthy multi-mission frigate, intended for surveillance missions in waters surrounding the Japanese archipelago, including the East China Sea. According to the JMSDF, this frigate class is equipped with enhanced multirole capabilities, including the ability to conduct anti-mine warfare operations, which until now have been performed by the JMSDF’s ocean-going minesweepers. It has a standard displacement of 3,900 tons with a full load displacement of about 5,500 tons.
The Mogami-class ships, each of which is capable of embarking one helicopter as well as an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), will also be equipped with a VLS and an unmanned surface vehicle (USV), both of which will see the first instalment on any Japanese frigate ever.
The JMSDF had originally planned to build a total of 22 Mogami-class frigates as Tokyo ramps up efforts to strengthen the country’s naval forces. However, it has decided to now procure a total of only 12 such frigates until the current fiscal year 2023, with plans to acquire a new class of 12 FFMs from 2024 onwards. The new frigates will essentially be improved Mogami-class ships that are set to be built to the design proposed by MHI.
The MoD started allocating budget from FY2024 until FY2028 to acquire 12 New FFMs. The first of the New FFMs is scheduled to be commissioned in fiscal year 2028, and if construction proceeds smoothly, 12 ships will be in service five years later, in fiscal year 2032.
The new frigates will essentially be improved Mogami-class ships that are set to be built to the design proposed by MHI. Naval News previously reported on the “New FFM” at this link.
In an epoch-making move, the Australian government has shortlisted Japan’s MHI and Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) over Spanish and South Korean contenders to build the Royal Australian Navy (RAN)’s future general purpose frigates as part of the SEA 3000 requirement. MHI is pitching the “New FFM”, or the upgraded Mogami-class frigate, to the Australian government, meanwhile, TKMS has offered its MEKO A-200 design.
Tokyo needs compact, speedy, multi-mission stealth frigates more than ever. As neighboring China expands the size and capabilities of its naval forces, Japan plans to defend its southwestern Nansei island chain, which spans about 1,200 km from Kagoshima to Okinawa, stretching southwest toward Taiwan by increasing surveillance missions in Japanese coastal waters. The chain includes the disputed Senkaku / Diaoyu Islands, which are controlled by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan. In addition, Russia’s military has been increasingly sending naval and air forces to join exercises held by China in the Sea of Japan and elsewhere.
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