Australia marks keel-laying for new anti-sub frigate

Shipbuilders at BAE Systems Australia laid the keel of NUSHIP Hunter on August 24, 2026, marking the formal start of hull assembly on the first ship in Australia’s Hunter class frigate program.

The ceremony took place at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in South Australia. Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy and Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Matthew Buckley joined shipyard workers to place a coin beneath two ship blocks, a naval custom meant to bring good luck to the vessel and its future crew. The two blocks are among the first structural sections that will form the base of the frigate as additional blocks are added.

NUSHIP Hunter is the lead ship of a class Australia plans to build to replace its aging Anzac class frigates. The Royal Australian Navy’s current program covers six Hunter class ships, with contracts signed for the first three. Construction on Hunter began with a first steel cut in June 2024, and by June 2026, more than 60 percent of the ship was in fabrication or construction, according to BAE Systems. Work on the second ship in the class, NUSHIP Flinders, is preparing to move into fabrication.

The Hunter class design is a heavily modified version of BAE Systems’ Type 26 Global Combat Ship, the same base design being built in Glasgow for the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy. Australia’s version integrates the U.S. Navy’s Aegis combat system with a local interface built by Saab Australia, along with the Australian-designed CEAFAR2 phased-array radar. The ships will displace roughly 8,800 tons at full load, run about 150 m (492 ft) long, and carry a crew of 180, with berths for up to 208. Each frigate will also be built to operate the MH-60R Seahawk maritime helicopter.

David Shepherd, Managing Director of BAE Systems Australia’s Surface Ships business, spoke at the ceremony.

“Today’s ceremony is the culmination of years of hard work by our people and partners in the pursuit of delivering a world-leading warship to the Royal Australian Navy.”

“The Hunter class will form the backbone of the Royal Australian Navy’s fleet for decades to come, with its unique capabilities, weapons, sensors and modular mission bay enabling it to undertake a wide range of missions in addition to hunting submarines.”

“While today we have physically laid the keel of the first Hunter class frigate, the Hunter program itself has laid the foundations of a Continuous Naval Shipbuilding and Sustainment capability in Australia.”

“This milestone is a proud moment for our workforce, our partners and the thousands of Australians contributing to a sovereign naval shipbuilding enterprise that will support Australia’s security and prosperity for generations.”

The frigate is designed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, built around a hull configuration meant to minimize the acoustic signature that submarines can detect. Its weapons fit includes a 32-cell Mark 41 vertical launch system, capable of firing Standard 2 and ESSM missiles, along with torpedo tubes and a modular mission bay that can carry small boats, unmanned systems, or additional mission equipment depending on the task assigned.

The Hunter class program is being carried out under Project SEA 5000 Phase 1, which Australia’s Department of Defence signed with BAE Systems Maritime Australia, now operating as BAE Systems Australia, in December 2018. The head contract was amended in June 2024 to cover construction of the first three ships.

Ahead of cutting steel on Hunter, BAE Systems ran a prototyping program at Osborne beginning in December 2020, building five prototype hull blocks based on the Type 26 reference design to test construction methods, tooling, and workforce training before full production began. A separate mast prototyping effort ran between 2023 and 2026 at the company’s Henderson shipyard in Western Australia, where crews are now building the mast for NUSHIP Hunter.