Overview
- Raytheon’s SeaRAM, selected Monday under a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries award, will equip the first three Improved Mogami-class frigates for Australia.
- The deal includes launchers, Blast Test Vehicles, and technical services for installation and testing, with deliveries slated to start in late 2028.
- This is the Royal Australian Navy’s first use of SeaRAM, which pairs Phalanx sensors with an 11‑cell Rolling Airframe Missile launcher to push intercepts to roughly 9–10 km instead of about 2 km for the Phalanx gun.
- The first three ships are being built in Japan before work shifts to Australia’s Henderson Defence Precinct, with MHI aiming to hand over the first vessel by December 2029.
- Work on the SeaRAM systems will occur in Louisville, Kentucky, reinforcing U.S.–Japan–Australia industrial links as the region fields defenses against cruise missiles and drone swarms.