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Israeli Navy's Sa'ar 6-class corvette successfully launches Gabriel 5 anti ship missile.
According to a tweet published by the Israeli MoD on September 21, 2022, to the Israeli Navy, and IAI successfully completed a "Gabriel 5" Anti-Ship missile test as part of the operationalization process of "MAGEN" ships.
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Israeli Sa'ar 6-class corvette launching Gabriel 5 anti-ship missile (Picture source: IDF)
Gabriel is a family of sea-skimming anti-ship missiles manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). The initial variant of the missile was developed in the 1960s in response to the needs of the Israeli Navy which first deployed it in 1970.
Since then, variants have been exported to navies around the world. The latest variant, the Gabriel V, is in use by the Finnish and Israeli navies as of 2020.
The Sa'ar 6-class corvette is a series of four German-made corvettes ordered for the Israeli Navy in May 2015. Israel received the first of four Sa'ar 6-class corvettes, INS Magen, on 11 December 2020.
The ship's design is loosely based on the German Braunschweig-class corvette, but with engineering, changes to accommodate Israeli-built sensors and missiles such as the Barak 8 and the naval Iron Dome system.
The Sa'ar 6 has been adopted for maritime protection, anti-shipping, and prevent threats in the Israeli exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
The Sa'ar 6 is also used to defend Israeli shipping lanes in the Mediterranean to import more than 90 percent of goods for Israel. One of their roles will be to protect natural gas platforms in the Mediterranean Sea against possible sea-borne, counter-terrorism or rocket threats.
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 point defense system, 8 anti-ship missiles (likely Gabriel V), the EL/M-2248 MF-STAR AESA radar, and two 324 mm (12.8 in) torpedo launchers. It has hangar space and a platform able to accommodate a medium-class SH-60-type helicopter.