Australia said Tuesday it accepted a Japanese company's bid for a lucrative and hotly contested contract to build Australian warships, expected to be worth 10 billion Australian dollars ($6.5 billion).

Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will deliver the first of Australia's new navy frigates under a A$10 billion ($6.5 billion) deal, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said on Tuesday. T

SYDNEY/TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan clinched a landmark A$10 billion ($6.5 billion) deal on Tuesday to build warships for Australia, marking Tokyo's most consequential defence sale since ending a military export ban in 2014 as it steps away from postwar pacifism to counter China.