This is an interesting read:
What's behind the Navy's failure?
By Yossi Melman
The heads of Israel's Navy will have to figure out whether the failure on Friday night resulted form an intelligence problem or complacency - or maybe both.
When a Saar-5 Class Destroyer, INS Spear, was hit by a missile launched by Hezbollah, the incident could have ended with severe results, including the sinking of the ship. Four of the personnel on board were initially reported missing; since then, one body has been identified.
The missile that struck the INS Spear has a warhead weighing 100 kilograms, hardened and programmed to explode after it penetrates the hull. The damage it caused could have been much more lethal: Luckily the aviation fuel INS Spear carries for its on-board helicopter did not explode.
According to a senior Israel Defense Forces source, the missile that struck the ship was a Chinese-made, radar-guided cruise missile with a 100-kg warhead, the C-802, an upgraded version of the C-701. Both types have been in the arsenal of Iran's Navy for at least seven years. The range of the missile does not exceed 35 kilometers, and at the time of the attack the INS Spear was operating at a distance of 16 kilometers from the Lebanese shores.
The missile can be launched from ship, aircraft and land, and Chinese sources claim that it has electronic counter-measures that disrupt radar defenses of targets as they try to lock on to the incoming C-802. This may explain the failure of INS Spear to shoot the missile down.
In the past, INS ships have been hit by shore-based gunfire, without any serious damage. This is the first time that a missile scored a hit against a modern Israeli missile boat.
Following the Six-Day War Egyptian missile boats managed to sink the INS Eilat using Soviet-made Styx missiles in a well-orchestrated ambush off the Sinai peninsula. Since, the Israel Navy has excelled in developing both advanced fighting doctrines in the use of missile boats and technologies, which it also exported around the world. The attack on INS Spear could also damage the reputation of the Israel Navy and harm naval-related defense exports.
The INS Spear is one of three Saar-5 Class warships, which is larger than a corvette and is one the most advanced warships in Israel's naval arsenal. They were built in Pascagoula, Mississippi, by Northrop-Grumman shipyards, using U.S. military aid funds. The INS Spear entered operational service in 1995.
The defense suit of the Saar-5 destroyers is made in its entirety by Israel defense industries. Each vessel displaces approximately 1,300 tons, has a crew of 64, and is capable of independent operations for about 20 days without resupply. The ships are capable of carrying up to two helicopters, in addition to intelligence and air force personnel.
Three of the victims of the attack were air force and intelligence personnel, suggesting that the role of the ship was that of forward controller for the naval blockade imposed since the start of the operation against Hezbollah on Wednesday night.
The strength of the Saar-5 Class lies in its fighting systems and these should have provided it with adequate protection against the C-802. Its electronic countermeasures, made by Rafael, should have enabled it to identify and locate the incoming missile. This is particularly true in the case of the Chinese-made missile that is radar-guided, which constantly emits electronic signals making it easier to see on radar.
The first line of defense would have been electronic counter-measures that would have disrupted the radar guidance of the missile, and then an anti-missile missile, that can shoot down the incoming threat. As a last resort, the Vulcan close-defense system would have destroyed the C-802 at ranges under two kilometers.
Clearly all these systems failed and the question that remains is: Why? Was there intelligence information that was not passed on to INS Spear, as in the case of the luckless INS Eilat? Even if intelligence was not available, the crew was taking part in combat operations and should have been on high alert for any eventuality.
For three decades Israel's Navy has had complete mastery of the area between Libya and Syria, and Naval officers say that the prevailing sense was that "no one can harm us." Could the results of Friday night's attack have been the result of complacency?
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