Photo Credit: jimmyweee, Malaysian OPV Pahang, IMDEX2007
DefenseNews is reporting that Germany will be building four Offshore Patrol Vessels for the Israeli Navy. Israel has seen a need for OPVs to protect its growing offshore energy industry.
Israel had previously considered the Lockheed “international” LCS design, but it was deemed too expensive. The design selected is a version of the MEKO A100. Two versions of this design are already in service, The Kedah class (pictured above) with the Malaysian Navy and the K-130 class corvettes of the German Navy.
It will be interesting to see how these ships turn out. They will be similar in size, perhaps a bit smaller than the Offshore Patrol Cutters.
A late addition:
Added Nov. 16, 2020.
From what the Germans are looking to sell and what ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems is proposing to sell to Israel is the Blohm+Voss Class MEKO® A100 Corvette. It is advertized as a compact frigate and a smaller sister to the Blohm+Voss Class MEKO® A200 Frigate. it is basically a Light frigate. I would not be shocked if Israel decides to go with German Navy F-125 Frigate design or the MEKO A200 that they are currently building for Algeria. https://www.thyssenkrupp-marinesystems.com/en/blohmvoss-class-meko(R)-a100-corvette.html
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We are now getting some more details.
https://www.navyrecognition.com/index.php/news/defence-news/2018/february-2018-navy-naval-defense-news/5947-tkms-cut-1st-steel-of-first-israeli-navy-saar-6-corvette.html
I added a depiction of the ship with the weapon systems identified from the NavyRecognition post, with the weapon systems identified to the tail end of this post.
Added another diagram of the ship (see at the bottom of the post) found in this article. https://sldinfo.com/2020/11/israeli-defense-after-the-abraham-accords-expanding-area-of-sea-control/
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