Israeli navy prepares for arrival of new upgraded warships

After a coronavirus-related delay, Israel’s navy is preparing for long-awaited arrival of its next generation of missile boats — giving it a powerful new tool to defend its strategic natural gas industry from threat of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

first missile boat of “Project Mn” is scheduled to arrive by early December, with three more of German-me corvettes scheduled to arrive over next two years.

“It’s bigger. It’s newer. It’s faster. It’s better,” said Rear m. Eyal Harel, he of Israeli naval operations, during a rare tour of Israel’s offshore Leviathan gas field. A massive gas platform stood just a few hundred meters (yards) away.

vessels, commonly kwn as “Saar 6,” will be at forefront of Israeli efforts to protect its 200-mile exclusive ecomic zone. natural gas industry, seen as a national asset, is at heart of those efforts.

Over a dece after finding sizeable reserves off its Mediterranean coast, Israel w generates some 60% of its electricity from natural gas, according to national electric company, and has begun to export gas to its Arab neighbors Jordan and Egypt. Israel is also pursuing a project with Greece and Cyprus in hopes of creating an Eastern Mediterranean gas pipeline to Europe.

With so much at stake, Hezbollah has identified Israeli gas installations as high-priority targets. In a 2018 speech, group's leer, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, said he could destroy Israeli gas assets “within a few hours” if re was a government order to do so. Hezbollah is part of an alliance that dominates Lebanese politics and government.

Israel takes such threats seriously. During a monthlong war in 2006, a Hezbollah cruise-missile strike on an Israeli “Saar 5” warship killed four soldiers.

Lt. Col. Eitan Paz, a flotilla commander, said new vessels would bring a welcome upgre to aging Saar 5's, which are nearly 30 years old.

He said y would be equipped with newer and more powerful rar and or electronic systems, and handle rough seas much better than ir predecessors. 90-meter (295-foot) vessels are equipped with rocket and missile defense systems, anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles, torpedoes and an upgred launching p for Israel's newest attack helicopters.

“Physically, it's t much bigger than Saar 5,” he said. “But it ds all of se systems.”

He said first boat, INS Mn, or “Shield,” was supposed to arrive in August, but delivery was delayed due to coronavirus. He said it would be deployed immediately and reach full operational capacity within several months after it is outfitted with Israeli weapons systems in several phases.

Since 2006 war, Hezbollah is believed to have greatly beefed up its arsenal with some 150,000 rockets and missiles, according to Israeli estimates. Israel also accuses group of trying to develop precision-guided missiles, which would make that arsenal far more lethal.

Harel said navy’s main concerns are Chinese-me C-802 missiles, like one that hit Israeli ship in 2006, and Russian-me “Yakhont” anti-ship missiles possessed by Hezbollah's ally Syria.

But he said military has learned lessons from that war. “We are prepared and we will be even more prepared when we have new battleships,” he said.

Israel agreed to buy vessels in a 2015 deal valued at roughly 430 million euros ($480 million at time), with German government covering about one quarter of cost.

Several Israeli businessmen, including confidants of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a former commander of navy, are suspects in a graft scandal connected to purchase of warships and submarines from German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp.

Netanyahu, who is on trial in three or corruption cases, was t named as a suspect in scandal and one active in Israeli navy has been connected.

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