Drawing of the high-speed combat boat SAAR S72 with missile armament, a helipad and a 76-mm cannon
Sea sphere
Israel got serious about its naval industry after France imposed an arms embargo after the 1967 Six Day War. It hit the last five of the 12 Saar 3-class missile boats (the famous Cherbourg boats). Israel decided that it should create an independent shipbuilding industry, which led to the creation of the Israel Shipyards and later to the launch of the first Saar 4 in 1971 and the first Saar 4.5 in 1980. However, as will be discussed below, IAI is also involved in shipbuilding activities
ISRAEL SHIPYARDS
In accordance with the plan under the Law on the Sale of Arms and Military Equipment to Foreign States, the construction of the Saar 5 boat was moved to the United States in the early 90s, followed by the privatization of the company, whose staff was reduced from 1,200 to 300 people. Privatization - Israel Shipyards is currently part of the SK Group - has generated a lot of interest abroad. In addition to orders from the Israeli military, eight Saar 4.5 boats were ordered in 2002, plus five Shaldag MkIII speedboats in 2008. In 2004, ahead of the Athens Olympics, the company received an order for its coastal patrol ship OPV 58 from the Greek Coast Guard. The vessel is based on a Saar 4 hull with a smaller combat post on the bridge; the same design was adopted for the OPV 62, which was launched in March 2011.
Taking a critical look at the age of the Israeli fleet, where the newest ships were 12 years old and the older ships more than 35 years old, and given the discovery of gas fields on the shelf, the Israel Shipyards conceived the construction of a multipurpose vessel that would allow Israel to use its constrained budget in the most rational way. way. The new model, designated Saar 72, was developed by the company on its own initiative. In order to reduce construction costs, the project was based on commercial standards. The work took two and a half years, with the shipyard receiving some help from the state. The hull of the new vessel is common to two different models: the aforementioned speedboat and the coastal patrol ship OPV 72.
The overall length of the Saar 72 is 72 meters, the width of the hull is 10, 25 meters, and the displacement is about 800 tons. The vessel is equipped with two MTU 16V1163M94 diesel engines providing a maximum speed of over 30 knots, a continuous cruising speed of 28 knots and a cruising speed of 18 knots. At cruising speed, the cruising range is over 3,000 nautical miles or 21 days. The crew consists of 50 sailors, although another 20 special forces soldiers can be transported on board. The Saar 72 has a 10x15, 3 meter landing pad that can be used by a medium sized helicopter. The ship can be equipped with surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles, a naval gun of up to 76 mm caliber and other systems and weapons at the customer's choice. Israel Shipyards is awaiting its launch customer as the Israeli navy is still seeking funds to start building a new class of corvette. Asian countries are showing great interest in the OPV configuration, although one of the potential customers is interested in the corvette.
In the early 1990s, Israel Shipyards launched a new high-speed patrol boat, the Shaldag MkII. It was made of aluminum and all systems were lightened as much as possible in order to achieve speeds in excess of 45 knots. The larger MkIII variant serves in southern Israel, while the MkIV variant with the same hull but with a different layout was sold to the Romanian Coastal Police in 2010 as part of the Schengen agreement.
The newest development of the Shaldag class is the MkV variant. A boat with a length of 36.2 meters and a displacement of 95 tons can reach speeds of over 40 knots
IAI Ramta is currently developing a 20-meter Mini-Dvora with a crew of 4 people (a crew of 12 for the boat Dvora); cruising range at a speed of 30 knots is 300 nautical miles
Shaldag class boats were also sold to Cyprus, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria and Sri Lanka. However, some countries need larger vessels, which prompted Israel Shipyards to develop the Shaldag MkV. The new Shaldag boat, 32.65 meters long and 6.2 meters wide, has a displacement of 95 tons, and its MTU or Caterpillar engines, coupled with water cannons from MJP Kamewa or Rolls Royce, can reach speeds of over 40 knots. The cruising range is 650 nautical miles at 32 knots and 1000 nautical miles at 12 knots, which means a sailing duration of six days. The crew of the vessel is 10-12 people, and the armament complex is determined by the customer; the maximum caliber of the gun is 30 mm, in addition, surface-to-surface missiles can be installed. In 2014, Israel Shipyards received the first order for six MkV boats from Azerbaijan. At the moment, the construction of the last boat is nearing completion. The same country also bought six OPV 62 ships.
IAI RAMTA
Some readers will be surprised to learn that the well-known aviation technology company IAI is in the marine business, albeit through its Ramta division. In fact, her Dvora class light combat boats have been sold to many countries around the world. They are in service with the Israeli Navy, the fleets of the Gambia, Paraguay, Taiwan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar (the last customer, 6 Super Dvora MkIII boats). An improved version of the Super Dvora MkII is in service with Eritrea, India, Israel, Sri Lanka and Slovenia. The Dvora class boats have a displacement of 45 tons, can reach speeds of 37 knots and have a 20 mm cannon and a 12.7 mm machine gun on board. However, the newest variant of the Super Dvora MkIII can reach a speed of 50 knots, and even 52 knots in the afterburner. These vessels have a cruising range of up to 1,500 nautical miles and a displacement of 70 to 75 tons. As for armament, the Super Dvora MkIII has one stabilized 20mm or 30mm mount and two 12.7mm machine guns on board.
The Super Dvora MkIII is available with a variety of high-speed propellers: propellers or water cannons
False targets - RAFAEL
The Rafael company, although better known for other products, is very active in the maritime field, since it has decoys, electronic warfare systems and artillery installations in its portfolio. In the field of decoys, Rafael has developed a set of fired false targets Wizard - a new generation system, whose corner reflector of a special geometric shape allows for better target modeling. Since the latest missiles are equipped with decoy recognition algorithms that take into account not only the effective reflection area, but also the flicker and fluctuation of the echo signal, the Wizard system has similar characteristics that, at medium ranges, confuse the seeker (seeker) of the enemy missile before capture it is a real ship, and at close range they lead the missile in the direction of the false target after its seeker captured the ship for escort. This decoy can be launched from a standard 115mm tube, the same is used for other 115mm false targets from Rafael, such as the IR Heatrap infrared trap, BT-4 medium and long range dipole reflectors, Leacut acoustic false target used against homing torpedoes.
Rafael's Wizard decoy target is launched from a standard 115mm tube launcher
The geometry of the Rafael Wizard decoy has been specially optimized to simulate not only the effective reflection area, but also the flicker and fluctuation of the target echo
Underwater decoys are also included in the Rafael catalog. The Scutter is a third-generation self-propelled system that can respond to multiple torpedo types simultaneously, such as active, passive, or active-passive. Based on the threat database, the Scutter system generates adapted radio jamming signals in order to distract the torpedo, which repeatedly, over and over again, attacks the Scutter system until the batteries run out. While the Scutter system is primarily intended for use on ships and helicopters, the Subscut system is launched from a submarine. It is equipped with sophisticated algorithms that allow you to generate the correct signals in order to distract torpedoes with active acoustic guidance or generate noise typical for ships in order to distract passive homing torpedoes.
Rafael's state-of-the-art Scutter acoustic countermeasures system can disrupt the attack of several torpedoes of different types at once
The Torbuster fourth-generation underwater decoy target attracts an enemy torpedo and then detonates its warhead to defeat it.
As for the fourth generation decoys, the Torbuster system should be mentioned. It contains the Scutter's "brains", which attract the enemy torpedo, and when it gets as close as possible, the system delivers its final "blow": its warhead generates enough energy to force the torpedo to cancel its attack.
Barrels - RAFAEL
Rafael manufactures two lines of shipborne stabilized remotely controlled weapon stations. The youngest member of the family received the designation Mini-Typhoon. The installation can operate as a separate system with its own sensors, which include a CCD camera and a thermal imager, or be integrated into the architecture of the ship using its sensor kit. The lead angles and elevation corrections are calculated by the computer, which takes into account the movement of the ship and the target itself. The Mini Typhoon artillery mount weighs from 140 to 170 kg, depending on the installed armament. Four types of systems are available: 7, 62 or 12, 7 mm machine guns, 7, 62 mm GAU-17 Gatling machine gun and 40 mm MK19 automatic grenade launcher.
In order to increase lethality, missiles can be installed; for this, sea-based versions of Spyke-NLOS and Spyke-ER missiles are offered. The armament elevation angles are –20 ° / + 60 °, the stabilization accuracy is 0.5 mrad. The senior member of the family, the Typhoon combat module is armed with cannons up to 30 mm in caliber and weighs less than a ton when fully loaded. The azimuth angles are limited to the ± 160 ° sector and the elevation angles are –20 ° / + 45 °. The sensor set of the installation includes a CCD camera, a thermal imager and a laser rangefinder.
Both of these installations were chosen by the US Navy. Rafael offers other sensors, such as its Toplite optoelectronic system, which can be installed on Typhoon, as well as its Sea Spotter system and an infrared non-scanning tracking system, which allows you to work on surface and air targets. Rafael has also developed a complete line of electronic warfare systems for maritime applications and is very active in training and simulation.
Rafael's remotely controlled Mini Typhoon is armed with a 12.7mm machine gun. Maximum machine weight only 170 kg
Installation Typhoon, equipped with an optronic sight, can accept weapons with a caliber of up to 30 mm. In the photo, this weapon installation is installed on a US Navy ship.
Stabilized optoelectronic station Compass by Elbit (pictured); for naval artillery installations, the Mini-Compass option is also offered
ELBIT and ELISRA
Elbit Systems' division Elisra also offers maritime electronic warfare systems, such as its Aqua Marine integrated suite, which includes radar support, electronic warfare countermeasures, laser warning and electronic countermeasures, as well as its tactical radio reconnaissance / direction finding system. Natacs 2000 and its Timnex II electronic reconnaissance system. The Deseaver MkII physical decoy system is a single launcher capable of accepting up to 12 modules of 6 traps each; Fully integrated with the ship, the system ensures optimal deployment of decoys. Active protection can be provided by the Mini-Orca (Overhead Remotely Controlled Armament) system armed with a 7.62mm machine gun. Aiming of this installation can be performed using stabilized multisensor optoelectronic systems manufactured by Elbit Elop: Compass or 8-inch Mini-Compass system (more on them in the next part). Integration with the ship is one of the most important business lines of Elbit Systems, in addition, it supplies combat control systems, such as ENTCS 2010, based on an open architecture.
DSIT
DSIT with 80 employees specializes in sonars and acoustic sensors for the protection of various objects (for example, harbors or oil rigs). The company's main market is Asia, but its systems have also been sold to South America, Europe and North America.
The most powerful system is the Aquashield swimmer detection sonar, which incorporates 20 years of experience in the development of specific swimmer detection algorithms. According to DSIT, Aquashield sonar is currently the longest range swimmer detection system. The first deliveries of the system took place in 2006. It is in service with European and Asian countries and, of course, Israel, and also serves the port of Gdansk, where it works as a civilian application.
DSIT also offers a comprehensive harbor and port surveillance system, which integrates the already mentioned AquaShield system, search radars and day and night cameras.
AquaShield can detect a swimmer equipped with a closed breathing system at a range of 700 meters! It is fully automatic and can handle up to 1000 targets simultaneously. In order to increase its efficiency, the coverage area can be selected.
