Construction advances on Australia’s first Hunter-class frigate

July 9, 2025, by Fatima Bahtić

The Hunter-class Frigate Program has hit a milestone after the first two machinery units for the first ship were consolidated under the construction phase of the program.

“Building a first of class frigate is highly complex, and the Hunter teams have done an amazing job creating the processes, systems and foundation needed to deliver the first three ships. This represents the full value stream across business, engineering, supply chain and operations,” Mitch, Ship Manager of BAE Systems Australia, the shipbuilding company that is constructing the vessel, commented.

The two steel units UB31T and UB21T now make up part of hull block 3 in the ship’s keel. This area will house auxiliary machinery, plumbing systems and cold storage facilities for perishables. It will also include an elevator for crewmembers to move food and equipment between the galley and mess hall on the upper decks.

Constructed upside down — a standard for shipbuilding around the world to make the large sections of hull easier to work with — UB31T and UB21T were fused together with MIG welding torches.

During the prototyping phase, the wider team refined every aspect of the process to optimise the build. The prototyping unit’s distortion and shrinkage rates were accurately measured and this information was fed back into the build process.

Each of the six Hunter-class frigates will be made up of 22 hull blocks that, in turn, will be comprised of between one and seven consolidated steel units.

The Hunter-class frigates are a class of advanced warships being built for the Royal Australian Navy to replace the aging Anzac-class frigates. The ships will have an 8,800-tonne full load displacement and will be approximately 150 meters long.

They will be equipped with advanced anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capability, a 24-cell strike length Mk 41 VLS for long-range strike weapons such as the Tomahawk, a vertical launch silo (VLS) for Sea Ceptor anti-air missiles, a 5-inch gun, and will be capable of landing a Chinook helicopter on its flight deck.

Recently, the steel was cut at Osbourne Naval Shipyard in Adelaide for the Royal Australian Navy’s first Hunter-class frigate. The deliveries are scheduled for the 2030s.