Arrival of first Sa'ar 6 corvette delayed due to coronavirus
Military still expect ship to arrive in 2020, but several months later than expected
By ANNA AHRONHEIMIsraeli Navy boat (photo credit: FLICKR)
The arrival of Israel’s first Sa’ar 6 navy corvette, the INS Magen, will be delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic that continues to spread across the globe.“In light of the spread of the coronavirus around the world, there are also impacts on the Sa’ar 6 project. The latest impacts and schedules will become clear in the coming weeks,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement, adding that “despite the effects of the virus, the INS Magen is expected to arrive in Israel in 2020.”In late March, the IDF brought back some 30 Navy sailors who had been deployed to Germany to prepare for the acquisition of the ships and according to a military official quoted by Walla! News, due to the pandemic there would be a delay in the delivery of the first ship.The first of the four Sa’ar 6 corvettes, the INS Magen, began her sea trials in Kiel, Germany, on March 10, and at the beginning of April the German government approved the export license for the four corvettes as well as a submarine to Egypt.The INS Magen was expected to arrive at the end of 2019 but is now expected to be delivered later this year. The remaining three corvettes, whose mission will be to defend Israel’s offshore natural gas reserves, as well as other strategic maritime assets, will follow, with the last arriving by 2021.According to the military the new Sa’ar 6 will also maintain “Israel’s sovereignty in the near and far seas, destroying the enemy’s war fleets and significantly contributing to complex and secret missions in the war-between-war campaign.”The new 90-meter-long ships will carry a crew of 70 sailors, who will be assisted by unmanned aerial vehicles and naval helicopters.They will have a maximum speed of 24 knots with a range of 2,500 nautical miles.They will be fitted with two Naval Iron Dome short range defense missile launchers with 20 Tamir missiles for each launcher, 32 vertical launch cells for the Barak-8 long-range surface-to-air missile (SAMs) naval defense system and 16 anti-ship missiles.In addition to interception missile defense systems, the ships will also have 16 anti-ship missiles, one 76 mm. OTO Melara Super Rapid main gun, two Typhoon 25 mm. remote weapon stations and two 324 mm. torpedo launchers for MK54 Lightweight Torpedoes.
Each ship will also be outfitted with cyber and electronic warfare systems and Elta’s EL/M-2248 MF-STAR active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar capable of tracking both air and surface targets.The construction of the four Sa’ar 6 warships was agreed to in a 430 million euro deal between Israel and the German company ThyssenKrupp in 2015.
