First Sa'ar 6 corvette INS Magen is sailing to Israel to join the Israeli Navy.

According to a Tweet published on the Twitter account of Israel Defense Forces on November 5, 2020, after being built over 3 years in Germany, the first Sa'ar 6 corvette INS Magen is sailing to Israel to join the Israeli Navy.
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Sa'ar 6 corvette INS Magen to join the Israeli Navy. (Picture source www.kn-online.de)

The Sa'ar 6 is a series of four corvettes which are being built by the German company ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) for the Israeli Navy. On May 23, 2019, the first Sa'ar 6 corvette was named INS Magen at a ceremony in Kiel.

The contract for the delivery of four SA'AR 6 corvettes to the Israeli was signed in May 2015. After the design phase, the construction phase started with the steel cutting ceremony of the first-of-class in February 2018. Only 15 months after the first steel cut, the ship was undocked, fulfilling its very ambitious schedule.

In March 2020, pictures released on the Internet showed the first sea trials on the INS Magen, SA'AR-6 class corvette for the Israeli Navy.

The INS Magen is the first Sa'ar 6 corvette that will be delivered to the Israeli navy. The other three ships will follow subsequently in intervals of a few months.

The Sa'ar 6 design is based on the German-made MEKO 100 patrol corvette, able to conduct a wide range of missions. The ship will be equipped with sensors and weapon systems produced locally by Israel companies to boost the combat capabilities of the ship. In August 2018, it was announced that Elbit Systems is awarded an approximately $85 million contract from the Israeli Ministry of Defense (IMOD) to supply Electronic Warfare (EW) suites for the Israeli Navy Sa’ar 6-class corvettes.

The Sa'ar 6 has a displacement of almost 1,900 tons at full load and is 90 m (295 ft 3 in) long. It is armed with an Oto Melara 76 mm main gun, two Typhoon Weapon Stations, 16 vertical launch cells for Barak-8 surface-to-air missiles, 40 cells for the C-Dome air defense system, 16 anti-ship missiles (likely Gabriel 5), the EL/M-2248 MF-STAR AESA radar, and two 324 mm torpedo launchers. It has hangar space and a platform able to accommodate a medium-class SH-60-type helicopter.

The Sa'ar will be powered by a combined diesel and diesel (CODAD) propulsion system that integrates two MTU diesel engines coupled with two controllable pitch propellers (CPPs). The ship can reach a top speed of 26 knots with a maximum cruising range of 2,500 nmi.