Israeli Navy to take delivery of new warship

Saar 6 corvette was constructed at the ThyssenKrupp shipyards, the same company behind the ongoing submarine scandal.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

Israel’s Navy is set to take delivery of a new warship produced by the same German company embroiled in a scandal involving submarines sold to the Jewish state, Kan News reported Thursday.

The German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp will transfer the Saar 6 warship to the IDF in a ceremony to be held in Germany on November 11, significantly the same date marked as Remembrance Day in many Western countries.

The ship will then sail to Israel, where additional innovative combat systems locally produced by Israel’s military industries will be installed.

The ship is one of the four corvette class warships that Israel purchased from ThyssenKrupp, which Israel’s Navy designated the Saar 6. The ships are intended to be part of the naval defense for Israel’s territorial waters in the Mediterranean Sea and specifically to protect offshore gas rigs.

Top Israeli defense officials and naval officers will attend the launching ceremony. A crew of Israeli Navy sailors is already in Germany training and preparing the boat to leave for Israel immediately after the ceremony.

The new ship will require protection from sea and air, but many of the combat systems will be installed only after the ship itself reaches the shores of Israel.

It was previously reported that Saar ships were at the center of the Case 3000 investigation involving the same manufacturer and allegations of bribes to Israeli officials close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who were involved in the procurement.

Although he was accused of being complicit, Netanyahu was cleared of Case 3000, which alleges that leading Israeli officials received bribes in exchange for their promotion of the acquisition of a Dolphin-class submarine for Israel’s Navy from ThyssenKrupp.

Netanyahu denied any wrongdoing on his part and has repeatedly called the allegations a witch hunt by a “hostile media.”