The latest info is that the ship was heavily damaged, and 4 sailors were killed. This must be very worrying for the IDF-a modern warship, with some of the best anti-missile technolgy available, hit with a llow -tech iranian missile? The Israelis are releasing very little info on this, but this must mean that the hezbollah now has:
and advanced radar station that could spot the warship
-a relaible guidance system
and (possibly) radar systems that could evade the Israeli countermeasures.
Anybody know more? If Iran is supplying sophisticated weapons, what will the Israelis do? Strike at Iran?
This is getting VERY serious! :eek:
I’m quite sure the Israelis can’t strike at Iran effectively. Or vice-versa, except by proxy as here.
The possibility exists that the crew was slack.
After all, such attacks on warships were rare, & the Hamas people are viewed as “militants” or “guerrillas” rather than “troops”. So a naval vessel is normally inaccessible to attack, if far enough offshore.
Or, maybe Hamas got lucky.
And there’s no real proof that this was a missile, rather than an artillery rocket.
Israel’s Jericho II missiles could easily hit Tehran, and Israel has at least three active Dolphin class submarines armed with Harpoons and probably Popeye class (AGM-142 "Have Nap’s) that, if they got in the Persian Gulf, could strike multiple targets in Iran.
Well, Israel Aircraft Industries is a leader in electronic countermeasures-I woulkd think that this ship would be almost invulnerable. I thought that the Iranian missiles were rather crude affairs-perhaps they have gotten advanced technology from russia?
It must worry the Israelis, that Hezbollah isn’t just a rablle of suicide bombers nay more.
the missile used was “a sophisticated Chinese-made weapon, upgraded by Iran.”
Apparently it uses a homing device with built-in radar that locks on a moving target. The Israeli navy “did not know that these missiles had reached Hizbollah’s hands.Therefore the electronic devices on the boad had not been adjusted to deal with the missile’s electronic parameters”.
umm, that should be boat
From what I understand, the captain had ordered the automatic defenses switched off, so that they wouldn’t accidentally fire on Israeli aircraft operating nearby. A screwup, to be sure.
The missile seems to have been a Chinese designed, Iranian-made C-802, although people tell me that a missile that size (which is designed to sink aircraft carriers) should have vaporized a corvette like the Hanit. Maybe the analysis is wrong, or maybe it was only a partial hit
Your link did not work for me.
!!!
If Israel has that level of missile technology, then Iran probably has it too.
Shit.
If true, the weapon may have been misused; say, by launching it without arming the warhead? The kind of damaged described might have been caused by impact & fuel explosion, without warhead blast.
What happened to the inital reports that the damage was done by an armed drone?
Yes, the initial report was that the ship was attacked by a drone. The missile part is scarey-that means that hezbollah has their own army, operating on Lebanese soil, and is bringing in weapons from Iran (via Syria?). THAT doesn’t sound good. Plus, these things aren’t launched from the back of a truck, there is a lot of equipment and trained personnel are required. So, it means that Iran is committed to a war with Israel. And how this will end is anyone’s guess.
Israel isn’t fighting a rabble any more.
What makes you think that? Israel is years ahead of Iran on missle technology. Israel is probably years ahead of Russia and China on missle technology.
The fact that Iran is an oil-rich country. What they can’t make, they can buy.
This isn’t “Harpoon 2.” Anti-missile systems offer some protection but are a long way from foolproof; in fact, it’s quite possible for them to successfully hit an incoming missile and have either the warhead or the rocket engine hit the ship anyway just through inertia.
One case doesn’t really offer us any opportunity to extrapolate a lot of information on the relative technical merits of the opposing weapons systems.
On this point you’re dead on correct, but what’s available on the missile market isn’t supposed to be even close to the missile tech that Israel has since the sellers in a deal like this are the Chinese and the North Koreans (I’m presuming, could be way off). Still the important point is that everyone seems to have gotten past the SCUD level of technology.
Does anyone have an official cite that this thing was in fact an Iranian missile? I’m a bit behind on this story…I’m still at where they were saying it may have been a home made drone of some kind. This sounds pretty damn serious…IF Iran is definitely involved its going to be bloody. 
-XT
Don’t the Chinese have missile technology up to the ICBM level?
Try this.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150886020509&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Regards,
Shodan