Posted on 05/20/2010 11:10:47 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The 1,227t/ 1,350 ton Sa’ar 5 Eilat Class corvettes were built by Northrop Grumman in the 1990s for about $260 million each. It’s a decent performer in a number of roles, from air defense to anti-submarine work, to coastal patrol and special forces support – but a master of none. The Israelis are looking for a next-generation vessel with better high-end capabilities, and the USA is their logical supplier. Given Israel’s size and cost requirements, however, the only American option was their Littoral Combat Ship.
Israel pursued that option for several years, conducting studies and trying to get a better sense of feasibility and costs. Their approach would have been very different from the American LCS ships, removing the swappable “mission modules” and replacing them with a fixed and fully capable set of air defense, anti-ship, and anti-submarine weapons. In the end, however, the project was deemed to be unaffordable. Instead, Israel is negotiating with Germany – whose surface shipbuilder is now partly owned by a United Arab Emirates consortium…
Someone out there, what does “Sa’ar” mean?
It is Hebrew for “Storm”.
“It is Hebrew for “Storm”.”
Thank you. When I was still working as Ass’t to the Head of the Math Dept at UIC in Chicago (before I retired) I had a grad student from Israel who “adopted” me as a mother figure (he being far from home). He would come in my office often to talk, and I really liked him. As military service in Israel is mandatory, he had been a Navy Seal (good swimmer), and he was a very, very bright young man. His first name was Sa’ar, and when I saw this article, it brought back memories of my young friend, as well as a curiosity as to what Sa’ar meant. Storm is a very appropriate name for him. He had a volatile personality, and I hope he has done well in life. My guess is he is now teaching math at some prestigious university either here in the U.S. or in Israel. Wish I knew where he was. He loved his home country, Israel, as do I. Thanks for giving definition to my friend’s name.
Sure no problem. It was my pleasure.
:)
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