On February 18, 2025, at the Israeli shipbuilding company Israel Shipyards in Haifa, the ceremony of the first steel cutting and the start of construction for the Israeli Navy of a new type of small rocket corvette Reshef took place.
The ceremony of the first steel cutting and the start of construction for the Israeli Navy of the lead small rocket corvette of the new type Reshef at the Israeli shipbuilding company Israel Shipyards in Haifa, 02/18/2025 (c) Israeli Ministry of Defense
Earlier on December 12, 2024, the Israeli Ministry of Defense signed a contract with Israel Shipyards for the construction of five small rocket corvettes of the new type Reshef for the Israeli Navy, with an option for possible additional ships. The contract value is 2.8 billion shekels (780 million dollars). The contract is designed for six years, while at the ceremony of the first steel cutting on February 18, it was announced that the lead corvette should be delivered to the fleet in three and a half years, that is, in 2028.
As part of the Israeli Navy, the new Reshef-type corvettes are to replace eight large 62-meter 500-ton missile boats of the Saar 4.5 project, commissioned from 1981 to 2003. The final number of Reshef-type corvettes planned for construction has not yet been precisely determined, but, according to a number of recent reports, it may amount to 10 or even 12 units.
The Reshef-type corvette project was developed by Israel Shipyards based on its export project of the 72-meter small corvette Saar-72. It is reported that the ships of the Reshef type will have slightly increased dimensions compared to the Saar-72 - a length of 76-77 meters and a width of 10.88 meters, and a total displacement of about 1,000 tons. The main power plant will be a three-shaft diesel or diesel-electric, with a full-stroke speed of up to 30 knots.
In 2023, it was reported that some (or all) of the hull sections of the Reshef-type corvettes would be manufactured in the United States by an unnamed American shipyard as a subcontractor, after which they would be delivered to the Israel Shipyards shipyard in Haifa for hull assembly. This will make it possible to finance the manufacture of hull sections at the expense of US military aid funds to Israel, and thus, the contract of 2.8 billion shekels probably does not cover the total cost of building ships.
The armament of the Reshef-type corvettes, according to published data, should include eight launchers of IAI Gabriel 5 anti-ship missiles, up to 40 vertical launchers of the Rafael C-Dome anti-aircraft missile system (shipboard version of the Iron Dome complex), container launchers of barrage ammunition, 76-mm Leonardo Oto Super Rapid universal artillery system, two 30-mm anti-aircraft missiles.mm remote-controlled Rafael Typhoon artillery systems. A helipad is located at the stern, where it is possible to place containerized weapons systems, primarily anti-submarine or mine-action ones. The electronic weapons will include an IAI Elta EL/M-2258 ALPHA (Advanced Lightweight Phased Array) general detection radar with AFAR on the mast, two electron-optical stations and an advanced electronic warfare system, including Rafael Digital Shark and Elbit Systems/Elisra NS9003/AquaMarine systems and jamming systems.
The ceremony of the first steel cutting and the start of construction for the Israeli Navy of the lead small rocket corvette of the new type Reshef at the Israeli shipbuilding company Israel Shipyards in Haifa, 02/18/2025 (c) Israeli Ministry of Defense
The latest published render image of a small Reshef-type missile corvette of the Israeli Navy (c) Israel Shipyards and the Israeli Ministry of Defense
