The INS Hanit attack

There seems to be quite a bit more. The Styx/Silkworm/C802 class missiles are a 30-year old design and the missile is the size of a small aircraft. It is essentially an aircraft laden with explosives. Here is more information:

Make of what you will. Reliable and accurate information?

From an article from defence update:

"Apparently, two missiles were launched toward the Israel Navy Ship (INS) Hanit (Spear), SAAR V class corvette patrolling the Lebanese coast 16 kilometers from the shore. The attack was a coordinated, simultaneous “high/low” attack - the first “high” missile passed over the Israeli ship. Missing the target, it continued flying, hitting and sinking a civilian Egyptian ship cruising 60 kilometers from the shore. The second missile followed a sea-skimming flight profile hitting the Israeli vessel at the stern, killing four sailors and setting the flight deck on fire and crippling the propulsion systems inside the hull."

and

"The simultaneous attack was probably using two techniques as well, ensuring maximum chances of success. The Israeli Navy believes the missiles used targeing data from Lebanese coastal radars, therefore maintaining low electro-magnetic signature throughout the attack prparation phase."


From an article on Wikipedia:

"Originally the IDF Naval Force claimed the ship had suffered only limited damage at the hands of an explosive laden UAV. After the true extant of the damage was revealed, the IDF claimed the ship had been hit by an Iranian c-802 antiship missile. And that the missile was only able to hit the Hanit because it's sophisticated automatic missile defense system was not deployed. The claims of the c-802 seem questionable for a number of reasons. i) the c-802 is a long range over the horizon antishiping missile that requires a large infrastructure to ensure it's successful launching; this seems to be far beyond the current capababilities of the Hizb-e-allah armed wing. ii) the c-802 is designed to sink a vessel of 10 kilotons, the Hanit is a Saar 5 corvette massing ~1.3 kilotons, it's level of damage is inconsistent with that of the c-802. iii) it seems highly questionable that the Hanit would have turned off her defensive systems in enemy waters, especially considering that another nearby IDF ship had deployed its defense system."

and

"The Iranian version of the c-701 , the Kosar, uses an autonomous millimeter tracker in lieu of the electro-optical tracker of the PRC c-701. The max range of the Kosar anti-patrol boat missile is identical to the distance of the Hanit from the Lebanese shore and the the damage level of the Hanit seems to be more in line with the smaller explosive warhed of the c-701. Furthermore the Kosar is designed to be launched by small groups from the backs of light lorries against targets that are within visual range, this seems to be well within the capability envelope of the armed wing of Hezbollah."

Anyway, there are questions as to the viability of small platforms of 1500 tonnes and under (1200+ for the INS Hanit) of mounting anti-missile and anti-aircraft defences. This may have just shown up these corvettes and fast-attack craft for what they are, paper tigers. On paper, they appear to be formidable and survivable platforms.

In the Gulf War of 1991, the entire Iraqi navy with its Lurssen types and others were essentially destroyed by Sea Skuas fired by Sea Lynxs and iron bombs from F/A-18s. On every occasion, the fast attack crafts and corvettes were unable to defend themselves against the Sea Lynx helicopters (the inability to lock and receive a targeting solution). Now, one can claim that the Iraqi navy or the Iranian one (in the clashes with the US navy in the eighties) were not competent, however, the Israeli navy is probably the best trained one in the Middle East and the INS Hanit the best and latest Israel vessel. I will write a little more on this later.