Australia and Japan signed contracts on Saturday, launching their landmark $7 billion deal to supply Australia ​with warships, Tokyo’s most consequential military sale since ‌ending a military export ban in 2014.

Defence Ministers Richard Marles and Shinjiro Koizumi signed a memorandum “reaffirming the Australian and Japanese ​governments’ shared commitment to the successful delivery” of ​the warships, Marles said in a statement.

The deal ⁠struck in August anchors Japan’s push away from its ​postwar pacifism to forge security ties beyond its alliance with ​the US to counter China.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is to supply the Royal Australian Navy with three upgraded Mogami-class multi-role frigates built ​in Japan from 2029. Eight more frigates will be ​built in Australia.

Japan’s Defence Ministry posted on X that Koizumi and ‌Marles ⁠welcomed the “conclusion of contracts for General Purpose Frigates, and confirmed to further strengthen bilateral defense ties” in the signing in Melbourne.

Contracts were signed for the first three ​frigates, to be ​built in ⁠Japan, before there is a “transition to an onshore build” at the Henderson shipyard near ​Perth in Western Australia, Marles said.

Australia plans ​to deploy ⁠the ships — designed to hunt submarines, strike surface ships and provide air defence — to defend critical maritime trade routes ⁠and ​its northern approaches in the ​Indian and Pacific Oceans, where China’s military footprint is expanding.