Barak ( he, ברק, ''
lightning
Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...
'') is an Israeli
surface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...
(SAM) designed to be used as a ship-borne
point-defense
Point defence (or point defense; see spelling differences) is the defence of a single object or a limited area, e.g. a ship, building or an airfield, now usually against air attacks and guided missiles. Point defence weapons have a smaller range in ...
missile system against aircraft,
anti-ship missile
An anti-ship missile (AShM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. A good ...
s, and
UAVs
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controlle ...
.
Overview
The Barak SAM system is designed to replace or complement gun-based
CIWS
A close-in weapon system (CIWS ) is a point-defense weapon system for detecting and destroying short-range incoming missiles and enemy aircraft which have penetrated the outer defenses, typically mounted on a naval ship. Nearly all classes of la ...
platforms, such as the
Phalanx CIWS
The Phalanx CIWS (often spoken as "sea-wiz") is a gun-based close-in weapon system to defend military watercraft automatically against incoming threats such as aircraft, missiles, and small boats. It was designed and manufactured by the Gene ...
, with a more flexible and longer-range SAM.
The missiles are mounted in an eight cell container (which requires little maintenance) and are launched straight up. The Barak SAM system's launcher uses a compact
vertical launching system
A vertical launching system (VLS) is an advanced system for holding and firing missiles on mobile naval platforms, such as surface ships and submarines. Each vertical launch system consists of a number of ''cells'', which can hold one or mor ...
, with an 8-cell module weighing . Fire control is provided by an equally compact C3I system that weighs , which can either operate independently or in conjunction with other on-board sensors. Its C3I radar system provides 360-degree coverage and the missiles can take down an incoming missile as close as away from the ship. Each Barak system (missile container, radar, computers and installation) costs about $24 million. The system is designed to defend against aircraft and
anti-ship missile
An anti-ship missile (AShM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. A good ...
s, including
sea-skimming
Sea skimming is a technique many anti-ship missiles and some fighter or strike aircraft use to avoid radar, infrared detection, and to lower probability of being shot down during their approach to the target.
Method
Sea-skimming anti-ship missi ...
missiles.
Flight tests
The missile was tested on 24 March 2017 by the
Indian Navy
The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...
from during Operation Readiness Inspection in the Arabian Sea.
Operators
Current operators
![RSS Vengeance Barak](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/RSS_Vengeance_Barak.jpg)
*
* - On 14 warships, including the s and the aircraft carrier .
[ This system is already deployed on the Indian navy's third aircraft carrier .
*
*
]
Allegations
The alleged Indian Barak missile purchase controversy was mainly due to allegations of defense industry corruption, and also due to allegations that the deal was over-priced and processed on a single-tender basis. By 2013, the allegations were unproven and the investigations were inconclusive due to lack of evidence, and the case is likely to be closed.
The investigation of the allegations began in 2006, and were done by the Central Bureau of Investigation
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and governmen ...
, which arrested several people including the former Samata Party
The Samata Party (SAP) is a political party in India, initially formed in 1994 by George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar, now led by Uday Mandal its National President. Samata Party once launched Nitish Kumar as the Chief Minister of Bihar. It was ...
treasurer R.K. Jain. On 23 December 2013, India's Defense Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by Defense Minister AK Antony cleared a second order of 262 Barak-I missiles for .
See also
* Tor missile system
The Tor (russian: Тор; en, torus) is an all-weather, low- to medium-altitude, short-range surface-to-air missile system designed for destroying airplanes, helicopters, cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and short-range ballistic thre ...
* Sea Wolf (missile)
Sea Wolf is a naval surface-to-air missile system designed and built by BAC, later to become British Aerospace (BAe) Dynamics, and now MBDA. It is an automated point-defence weapon system designed as a short-range defence against both sea-skim ...
* Barak 8
Barak 8 ( he, בָּרָק, lit. "Lightning"), also known as LR-SAM or as MR-SAM, is an Indo-Israeli jointly developed surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, designed to defend against any type of airborne threat including aircraft, helicopters, ant ...
* VL-SRSAM
References
External links
Barak 1 on IAI website
Barak 1 on Rafael website
Barak 1 brochure on Rafael website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barak Sam
Surface-to-air missiles of Israel
Naval surface-to-air missiles
IAI missiles
Close-in weapon systems
21st-century surface-to-air missiles
MLM products