Japan-UK security ties get boost with Rolls-Royce set to supply engines for new Japanese warship class
- Rolls-Royce will supply engines for a new Japanese warship class, underlining growing security links between Japan and Britain, an analyst says
- Concerned with the growing threat posed by North Korea and China, Japan in June 2020 pivoted to a new class of ships
Britain’s Rolls-Royce has signed a contract to supply engines to power a new class of Japanese warship that will be among the largest and most powerful to be operated by an Asia-Pacific navy.
The two next-generation Aegis System Equipped Vessels (ASEV) have a combined estimated cost of 1 trillion yen (US$6.38 trillion) and are designed as dedicated sea-based ballistic missile defence platforms to intercept drones, aircraft, missiles and even ballistic warheads or satellites beyond the atmosphere.
“These ships have a greatly enlarged hull for machinery, which is important as the Aegis system sucks up power, so the Rolls-Royce deal is very important as the Japanese know they need the top-of-the-line power plant,” said Garren Mulloy, a professor of international relations at Daito Bunka University and a specialist in military issues.
“The big hull also enables the ship to have huge fuel reserves, which will allow it to stay at sea longer, as well as carrying more missiles, both air-defence missiles and strike weapons,” he said.
At 120m (394ft) from bow to stern, with a 25m beam and displacement of 12,000 tonnes, the warships will be among the largest and, thanks to the US-made Aegis fire-control system, also the most capable missile defence platforms in the world.
