Australia and the United Kingdom have signed a memorandum of understanding for the construction of a new generation of frigates and joint work to be carried out on existing naval programmes.

Under the memorandum signed this week, the technologies used in shipbuilding will be shared and resources from the two countries will be used in the ongoing activities of the Type 26 frigate and Hunter-class frigate programs.

The agreement also aims to create jobs in the maritime sector in both countries. It currently finds seven Australian-based firms contracted to work on Type 26 programmes for the UK.

Hunter-class frigates, conducted under Bae Systems' main contractor, will replace existing MEKO 200 (ANZAC) class platforms in Australia's inventory. Nine frigates worth about US$35 billion are planned to be built.

BAE Systems is also the main contractor for Type 26 platforms built for the UK. In total, 13 Type 26 frigates planned to be built and will replace the Type 23s in inventory.