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Israel Navy’s New SA’AR 6 Corvette Begins Initial Sea Trials
Israel Navy’s New SA’AR 6 Corvette (likely INS Magen) seen on her initial sea trials, March 10, 2020. Picture via @WarshipCam

Israel Navy’s New SA’AR 6 Corvette Begins Initial Sea Trials

An Israeli Navy (Ḥeil HaYam HaYisraeli) new SA'AR-6 class corvette, likely first ship in class INS Magen, started her initial sea trials on March 10, 2020. Several ship spotters images from the Kiel area in Germany show the vessel underway under her own power.

Xavier Vavasseur 11 Mar 2020

The first SA’AR-6 class corvette was named INS Magen in May 2019. German shipbuilder thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) acts as General Contractor to build four corvettes of this class for the Israeli Navy.

SA’AR 6-class corvettes have the stealthy design of a low-signature missile corvette with tailor-made solutions and numerous new technologies on board. The contract for the delivery of four SA’AR 6 corvettes 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 launched, fulfilling its very ambitious schedule.

Following the current sea trials campaign, INS Magen is set to be delivered in spring 2020. The other three ships will follow subsequently in intervals of a few months.

In terms of weapon systems, the SA’AR 6 features an impressive firepower despite its compact size:

  • an Oto Melara 76 mm main gun,
  • two Typhoon Weapon Stations,
  • 32 vertical launch cells for Barak-8 surface-to-air missiles, the C-Dome point defense system,
  • 16 anti-ship missiles (likely Gabriel V)
  • two 324 mm torpedo launchers

The sensor suite includes the EL/M-2248 MF-STAR AESA radar. It has hangar space and a platform able to accommodate a medium class SH-60-type helicopter.

Key data for SA’AR 6 corvettes

On May 23, 2019, the world’s most modern corvette was named INS Magen at a ceremony in Kiel. This marks another important milestone in the ongoing program of thyssenkrupp Marine Systems as General Contractor to build four next-generation SA’AR-6 class missile corvettes for the Israeli Navy.
Israel Navy’s first SA’AR 6-class corvette INS Magen at the Kiel shipyard (Copyright: thyssenkrupp Marine Systems)

Length o.a. approx. 90 m
Beam 13 m
Full load displacement approx. 1,900 t

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Xavier is based in Paris, France. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems and a Master of Business Administration from Florida Institute of Technology (FIT). Xavier has been covering naval defense topics for nearly a decade.
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