The Federal Government's plan to build a new fleet of frigates and a new fleet of patrol boats was announced in its 2009 Defence White Paper (DWP) as part of a focus on building maritime capabilities to the year 2030.

Frigates are smaller than Air Warfare Destroyers (AWD) and are being designed with an emphasis on "submarine detection and response" operations.

The new frigates are to be equipped with an "integrated sonar suite" and will be designed to support both combat helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles or drones.

The frigates are to be built as a gradual replacement to the ANZAC Class ships, which will be maintained and upgraded until they are no longer needed.

The Government's plan to build up to 20 patrol boats, or Offshore Combatant Vessels (OCV), was announced in the DWP as a way to "rationalise" the Navy's fleet of four different types of patrol boats into a "single, modular multi-role class".

"The new vessels will be larger than the current Armidale Class patrol boats, with an anticipated displacement of up to 2,000 tonnes," the 2009 DWP said.

The OCVs will be used to undertake "war fighting roles", border protection, and long-range counter-terrorism and counter-piracy operations.

The DWP also included three new AWDs, one of which has already been floated at its Adelaide build site at ASC, and a fleet of 12 new submarines to replace the Collins Class fleet.

The DWP considers an upgrade of Australia's naval capabilities to Australia's role in the Indo-Pacific as China continues to rise as a global power and India emerges as a global force.

The United States is undertaking a force posture initiative to shift its focus away from the Middle East and Europe, and into the Indian ocean and the east and South-East Asia regions in response.

It is working at building up its presence in the region, including on Australia's shores in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and in Japan, among other locations.

The DWP said trends were shaping the emergence of the Indo-Pacific "as a single strategic arc".

The DWP further said the Government was "committed to a program of naval shipbuilding that would retain required national skills and capacity to support defence needs over the long term".

"Government decisions on specific maritime projects will take full account of this objective," it said.