Mitsubishi Delivers Seventh Mogami Frigate to Japanese Navy
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has handed over the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s seventh Mogami-class multi-mission stealth frigate.
The transfer of the JS Niyodo (FFM-7) was conducted simultaneously with its commissioning into service at the shipbuilder’s center in Nagasaki.
The event involved a flag-raising ceremony, officially inducting the platform into the force’s Escort Division 12 unit at the Kure Naval Base in Hiroshima.
It was named after a river that flows through Kōchi and Ehime Prefectures on Shikoku island.
First With Modern Launcher
The Niyodo is the first vessel under the Mogami program equipped with the Mk 41 Vertical Launch System.
This shipborne canister optimizes the platform’s rapid-fire capability against multi-domain threats in stand-alone tasks or as a security and escort ship as part of a larger carrier strike group.
The contract for the weapon’s integration was revealed in 2021 and is valued at 8.4 billion Japanese yen ($58.6 million). This also covered the arming of the vertical launch system for the eighth Mogami-class vessel, the JS Yūbetsu (FFM-8).
In 2023, the Japanese Ministry of Defense announced a separate 78.7-billion Japanese yen ($549 million) investment to equip the launch solution for the 10 other frigates under the program.
Outfitting will run from 2025 through 2028, according to a Naval News report.
The Mogami Frigate
The Mogami-class fleet was first conceptualized in 2015 to provide the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force with a “compact-type hull” surface combatant incorporating “additional multifunctional capabilities.”
Each series vessel measures 133 meters (436 feet) long, has a beam of 16 meters (52 feet), accommodation for approximately 90 personnel, and dedicated spaces for a naval helicopter, small support boats, and unmanned systems.
Alongside the vertical launch system, the warship employs 127-millimeter naval guns, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles, anti-submarine rockets and torpedoes, mine-laying equipment, remotely operated weapon stations, and electronic warfare devices.
The Mogami sails at over 30 knots (56 kilometers/35 miles per hour) using a combined Rolls-Royce gas turbine and twin large-bore diesel engines with 70,000 horsepower.
