Israel to step up gas field naval defenses - report

Sa'ar 5 and drilling platform
Sa'ar 5 and drilling platform

A senior IDF naval officer has told "Defense News" that the number of Iron Defense launchers on each Sa'ar 6 warship will be doubled.

The Israel Navy has decided to alter the design of its Sa'ar 6 Corvette warships that are being built at the ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems shipyards in Kiel, Gemany, in order to double the number of Iron Dome short range defense missile launchers, "Defense News" reports. The decision follows growing concern that there will be an attack on one of its offshore gas production platforms.

A senior Israeli naval officer told the US weekly that, growing quantities of 122mm Grad-type rockets and longer-range projectiles in the arsenals of Lebanon-based Hezbollah has prompted the Navy to rethink early requirements, which called for a single Iron Dome launcher to be integrated into each of the four ships now under contract.

“Because of this growing threat, we’re adding another [Iron Dome] launcher on the Sa’ar-6,” the officer said of the new, 1800-ton displacement versions of the Blohm+Voss Class 130 corvette selected by Israel for defense of offshore assets in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Defense News added, "According to the officer, each new Sa’ar-6 will be house two Iron Dome launchers, each capable of firing as many as 20 Tamir intercepting missiles. Those sea-based Iron Domes will defend against disruptive, possibly deadly and inexpensive shore-launched rockets while the Barak-8 anti-missile and air-defense system will defend ships as well as offshore assets against much more sophisticated and deadly threats, such as the supersonic, anti-ship P800 Yakhont cruise missile."

Defense News said that, "Iron Dome and Barak-8 - will be supported by the ELM-2248 Adir, a multi-function surveillance, track and guidance radar by Elta Systems, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). In order to accommodate the radar’s four phased array panels, the Israel Navy has been working for the past year to redesign the German vessel’s baseline bow section to house three panels and the shape of the rear mast to house the final phased array panel."

"It’s also been working for more than a year to redesign the crew berthing area to accommodate the radar and the Iron Dome and Barak-8 intercepting systems. The latest decision to add another Iron Dome launcher could delay slightly Israel’s receipt of its first Sa’ar-6, which had been expected to arrive in so-called safe sail mode - without its combat weapons suite - by the end of 2019 or early 2020. Once the first ship arrives here, others are expected to follow in six-month intervals."

"Meanwhile, in parallel," Defense News continued, "the Navy is working with local industry to prepare the radars, intercepting systems and supporting electronic warfare suites for installation almost immediately upon the Sa’ar-6’s arrival. According to the senior officer, the service expects it to take about six months to install everything properly and another eight months to one year of integration before the new EEZ-defense vessels can be certified as operational.

The four Sa’ar-6 corvettes warships being built by ThyssenKrupp have been at the center of a probe into alleged conflicts of interest among those close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The officer declined to discuss anything related to the ongoing criminal investigation, "Defense News" reported but insisted that the ships were a top Israel Navy priority and that the IDF had complete confidence in the proven capabilities of the shipyard.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 29, 2017

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017

Sa'ar 5 and drilling platform
Sa'ar 5 and drilling platform
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