Sunday, November 18, 2012

SA’AR 5-CLASS CORVETTE [WEAPON OF THE FORTNIGHT ~ SUNDAY 18 NOVEMBER 2012 TO SATURDAY 1 DECEMBER 2012]



For the weapon of the fortnight, I chose to talk about naval warfare. As I support the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), I chose to blog about the Sa'ar 5-class corvette, I got the information and photos from Wikipedia.


Three Sa'ar 5 class missile corvettes of the Israeli Navy cruise off the shore of Israel during a training exercise.


















Class overview
Name: Sa'ar 5
Builders: Northrop Grumman by Ingalls Shipbuilding
Operators: Israeli Navy
Preceded by: Sa'ar 4.5 class missile boat
Completed: 3
Active: INS Eilat, INS Lahav, INS Hanit

General characteristics
Class & type: Corvette
Displacement:
• 1,227 tonnes (full load)
• 1,075 tonnes (standard)

Length: 85.64 m (280.97 ft)
Beam: 11.88 m (38.98 ft)
Draft: 3.17 m (10.4 ft)

Propulsion: Combined Diesel or Gas
• 2 MTU V12 1163 TB82 diesel engines
• General Electric LM2500 gas turbine

Speed:
• 20 knots (37 km/h) (diesel engines)
• 33 knots (61 km/h) (gas turbine)

Range: 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km)

Complement:
• 64 officers and crewmen
• 10 aircrew

Sensors and
processing systems:
• Elta EL/M-2218S air search radar
• Elta EL/M-2221 fire-control radar
• EDO Type 796 sonar
• Rafael towed sonar array

Electronic warfare & decoys:
• Argon ST AN/SLQ-25 Nixie decoy
• Elbit chaff rocket launchers
• Rafael RF corner reflector
• Elisra NS-9003A/9005 RWR

Armament:
• 8 RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles
• 64 Barak 1 surface-to-air missiles
• Phalanx CIWS
• 6 Mark 32 torpedo tubes (Mark 46 torpedoes)

Armor: Steel and aluminum
Aircraft carried: Eurocopter Panther, unmanned helicopter
Aviation facilities: Helipad and helicopter hangar

Sa'ar 5 (Hebrew: tempest סער ) is a class of Israeli Navy corvette, designed based on lessons learned from the Sa'ar 4.5 class ships. Three Sa'ar 5 ships were built by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems (formerly Litton-Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation of Pascagoula, Mississippi) for the Israeli Navy, based on Israeli designs.

Three such ships have been built, all of which are in service with the Israeli Navy. They are the largest warships in Israel's naval fleet. Although they are "corvettes" due to their small size and crew of only 71, their weaponry and speed are almost comparable to that of a frigate. They are equipped with sonar, torpedoes, missile launchers, electronic warfare capabilities and decoys, a gun mount, and a helipad and helicopter hangar.

The first of class, INS Eilat, was launched in February 1993, followed by INS Lahav in August 1993 and INS Hanit in March 1994.


A Eurocopter AS565 Panther ("Atalef") helicopter flying above a "Saar 5" Navy corvette, which bears a banner saying "Good Luck Gabi".
Combat history:
During the 2006 Lebanon War, the INS Hanit was attacked by Hezbollah as it was enforcing a naval blockade off Beirut. Hezbollah used an Iranian version of the Chinese C-802 missile. The resulting explosion caused the landing pad to cave in and be engulfed in flames that threatened the aviation fuel storage below, and the flames were not fully extinguished until several hours later. The ship suffered some damage, but stayed afloat, got itself out of the line of fire, and made the rest of the journey back to Ashdod for repairs on its own. The ship was repaired and resumed its combat role three weeks later. Four IDF sailors were killed.

An investigation into the incident by the Israeli Navy concluded that the missile was indeed a C-802 which hit a crane in the rear of the ship. The ship's radar system was not fully functional at the time, and both the ECM and the Barak anti-missile systems were in a two-minute stand-by mode. An officer ordered that the anti-missile defenses be switched off about an hour prior to the attack without notifying the captain. The decision was made due to intelligence assessments that Hezbollah did not have the capability to hit Israeli warships. The malfunction in ship's radar was also discovered, but the staff chose not to inform the captain.

In August 2009, the INS Eilat and INS Hanit passed through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea, along with a Dolphin class submarine. The move was seen as a possible warning to Iran.

On 31 May 2010, the INS Lahav and the INS Hanit participated in the Gaza flotilla raid, meant to stop a convoy of ships from breaching the blockade of the Gaza Strip, along with the missile boat INS Nitzachon.


Naval Sail by on Tel Aviv Beach.

Three ships of the Sa'ar 5-class have been built:

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