The Sa'ar 6-class corvette is a series of four German-made corvettes ordered for the

Israeli Navy The Israeli Navy (, ''Ḥeil HaYam HaYisraeli'', ; ) is the Israel Defense Forces#Arms, naval warfare service arm of the Israel Defense Forces, operating primarily in the Mediterranean Sea theater as well as the Gulf of Eilat and the Red Sea th ...

in May 2015. These are operated by Shayetet 3 flotilla.

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 and the naval Iron Dome system. Elbit Systems 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 and ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS). 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 (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

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 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 seaborne terrorism attacks 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, marketed as the OTO 76/62 Gun Mount, is a naval autocannon built and designed by the Italian Defense contractor, defence company OTO Melara. It is based on the OTO Melara 76/62C and evolved toward 76/62 SR and 76/ ...

main gun, two Typhoon Weapon Stations, 32 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 or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-ai ...

s, 40 cells for the C-Dome point defense system, 16 anti-ship missiles Gabriel V, the EL/M-2248 MF-STAR

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

, and two torpedo launchers. It has hangar 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 ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, 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 metropolitan area i ...

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