IDF Saar 5 Anti-air missile Corvette.
Land-launched Chinese anti-shipping missile, C-802
Posted on 07/16/2006 7:25:19 AM PDT by Jeff Head
The remains of three missing Israel Defense Forces soldiers who disappeared when their warship was attacked by Hezbollah off the coast of Lebanon were found Sunday aboard the damaged vessel, military officials said.
The body of a fourth soldier hurt in the attack was identified Saturday as Staff Sergeant Tal Amgar, 21, from Ashdod.
The three soldiers have been named as Sergeant Yoni Hershkovitz, 21, from Haifa; Corporal Shai Atias, 19, from Rishon Letzion and First Staff Sergeant Dov Shteinshos, 37, from Carmiel.
The incident occurred close to 8 P.M., west of Beirut, when the INS Spear, a Saar-5 Class destroyer, was on patrol as part of the naval blockade imposed on Lebanon since Wednesday.
The Saar-5 class is equipped with very advanced defensive systems. However, these were not in operation at the time of the attack, partly because of the number of IAF aircraft operating in the area. It was feared that if the system was in operation, it would mistakenly identify friendly aircraft as enemy targets and engage them.
The Navy has already issued new orders to its vessels operating off Lebanon.
The missile struck the vessel near its helicopter landing pad at the rear of the ship. A large explosion caused the landing pad to cave in and be engulfed in flames that threatened the aviation fuel storage below.
Initial assessment held that the ship had been struck by an unmanned aerial vehicle loaded with explosives. However, later in the night it became clear that a missile had hit INS Spear.
The missile, is a C-802 radar-guided anti-shipping missile manufactured in Iran using Chinese technology. Its range is estimated to be about 110 km.
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
Thought folks here would be interested in these latest developments out of Israel on this story.
FYI...latest out of Israel. No pics, but more detailed information.
FYI...latest on the attack on the Israeli ship.
Thanks for posting this. I never bought the ROV story. I kept picturing some Iranian 10 miles out to sea in a rowboat and a model airplane controller.
Is this an Israeli made ship ?
The hull was built here in the US. All weapons and sensors were added in Israel I believe.
Yep...late that night, or early next morning, they realized it was a sophisticated, guided missile launched from shore. I have posted several stories on FR about it. Use the Keyword search SAAR 5.
Ex-US destroyer ?
IDF Saar 5 Anti-air missile Corvette.
Land-launched Chinese anti-shipping missile, C-802
Nope, brand new guided missile corvette. Strongest and most advanced corvette class ship in the world by all accounts.
Thanks Jeff. So, did the ship have defenses that could have neutralized this missile?
From the pictures (on yesterday's thread) the helicopter looked fine on it's pad. Whatever.
It is really inexcusable, IMHO, that they were not active in such a combat zone.
I think those pictures are not what they claimed to be.
Thanks.
Is the ship equipped with something like Aegis?
Agreed.
Not as strong as AEGIS...but it is equiped with very modern sensors, data linking, ECM, etc. No Phased array radars, but good radar just the same.
FYI...here is the article I mentioned on the other thread.
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