The Sa'ar 6-class corvette is a series of four German-made

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...

s ordered for the

Israeli Navy The Israeli Navy ( he, חיל הים הישראלי, ''Ḥeil HaYam HaYisraeli'' (English: The Israeli Sea Corps); ar, البحرية الإسرائيلية) is the naval warfare service arm of the Israel Defense Forces, operating primarily in ...

in May 2015.

Development

The ships' design is loosely based on the German , but with engineering changes to accommodate Israeli-built sensors and missiles such as the

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 ...

and the naval Iron Dome system.

Elbit Systems Elbit Systems Ltd. is an Israel-based international defense electronics company engaged in a wide range of programs throughout the world. The company, which includes Elbit Systems and its subsidiaries, operates in the areas of aerospace, land ...

has been awarded the contract to design and build the electronic warfare (EW) suites for the ships. All four vessels were constructed in Germany in a joint project by

German Naval Yards Holdings German Naval Yards Holdings GmbH (GNYH) is a German shipyard group which combines three shipyards in the Kieler Förde under its umbrella: German Naval Yards Kiel, Nobiskrug (Rendsburg) and (Kiel). The group is a 100% subsidiary of Privinve ...

and ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. The first of the class was scheduled to be delivered in 2020. Construction cost was estimated at NIS 1.8 billion Israeli new shekel (NIS) or roughly 430 million

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

s ($480 million). Israel will pay for two thirds of the cost and the German Government will subsidize a third of the corvettes' construction costs, as with the s.

Missions

The Lebanese

Hezbollah Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...

group alleges that Israel's gas fields lie in Lebanese waters. It has threatened to target Israeli gas platforms. An Israeli-owned ship reportedly came under missile fire repeatedly near the United Arab Emirates. The ship was en route to the UAE from Kuwait, according to Channel 12 news. The Sa'ar 6 has been adopted for maritime protection, anti-shipping and prevent threats in the Israeli exclusive economic zone (EEZ).The Sa'ar 6 is also used to defend Israeli shipping lanes in the Mediterranean to import more than 90 percent of goods for Israel. One of their roles will be to protect natural gas platforms in the Mediterranean Sea against possible sea-borne, counter-terrorism or rocket threats.

Characteristics

The Sa'ar 6 has a displacement of almost 1,900 tons at full load and is long. It is armed with an

Oto Melara 76 mm The OTO Melara 76 mm gun is a naval gun built and designed by the Italian defence company OTO Melara. It is based on the OTO Melara 76/62C and evolved toward 76/62 SR and 76/62 Strales. The system is compact enough to be installed on rel ...

main gun, two

Typhoon Weapon Station The Typhoon is a type of remote weapon station manufactured by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems of Israel, and it shares similar design principles and common technologies with Samson Remote Controlled Weapon Station (Samson RCWS), a land-based ...

s, 16 vertical launch cells for Barak-8

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 ...

s, 40 cells for the

C-Dome Iron Dome ( he, כִּפַּת בַּרְזֶל, Kippat Barzel) is a mobile all-weather air defense system developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries. The system is designed to intercept and destroy short-ra ...

point defense system, 16

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 goo ...

s Gabriel V, the

EL/M-2248 MF-STAR The EL/M-2248 MF-STAR is a multifunction active electronically scanned array naval radar system developed by IAI Elta for maritime installation on warships. It is capable of tracking both air and surface targets and providing fire control gui ...

AESA radar An active electronically scanned array (AESA) is a type of phased array antenna, which is a computer-controlled array antenna in which the beam of radio waves can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving the an ...

, and two torpedo launchers. It has

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

space and a platform able to accommodate a medium class SH-60-type helicopter. Israel received the first of four Sa'ar 6-class corvettes, , on 11 December 2020; Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems officially handed over the second corvette, , on 4 May 2021. On July 27, 2021, the final two ships, ''INS Atzmaut'' and ''INS Nitzachon'', were also delivered to the Israeli Navy by the builder. They were to be equipped with radar and weapon systems by the Israeli Navy after their arrival in Israel. In

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

in September 2022, the vessel's 76/62 rapid-fire main gun was ceremonially accepted for the first two ships of the class.

Ships of class

References

External links