ISRAEL BUILDS BOATS TO COUNTER EGYPTIANS' MISSILE-FIRING CRAFT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP70B00338R000300060025-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: January 4, 2017
• Document Release Date: July 15, 2005
• Sequence Number: 25
• Publication Date: January 11, 1968
• Content Type: NSPR

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Approved For Release 2005/07/25 : CIA-RDP70B00338R000300060025-2
Israel Builds Boats to Counter
Egyptians' Missile-Firing Craft
By WILLIAM BEECHER
Special M The New York Times
HAIFA, Israel, Jan. 8-TheIArab Republic's Soviet-supplied
Israeli Navy has come up with force, so it planned to modern-
its answer to the Egyptian mis-tize.
sile-firing Komar-class gunboatl "There really was no ship in
that sank the destroyer Elath
three months ago.
It is rushing production of a
"substantial number" of fast
boats of Israeli design that
it contends can outsee, outma-
neuver and outshoot the Rus-
sian-designed Komars.
The new vessels, though fair-
ly small, are said to be able to
detect and destroy enemy sub-
marines, planes and large war-
anybody's navy that really met
our needs," the source said.
"So we're going to come out
with a brand new surface force,
tailor-made to our require-
ments. There's nothing quite
like it in any other navy. The
over-all design is not that dif-
ferent, but the integration of
various systems is quite orig-
inal."
The closest thing to the new
1 h 'd ' th ne
a ~~
weapons. The boats, called the
Saar class-Saar is the Hebrew
word for tempest-would weigh
240 tons fully loaded, compared
with the 75-ton Komar boat.
The crew will number 30
against 28 for a PGM boat. Is-
raeli sources conceded that
this indicated the inclusion
of a large variety of complex
radar, electronics and modern
weapons systems.
Development Predicted
"In a way, it is not difficult
to foresee the development of
the Egyptian Navy for years
ahead," an Israeli planner said.
"They depend so completely
on the Russians that we mere-
ly have to see what the Rus-
sians are building and figure
five or six years later to see
It in the Egyptian Navy."
While Israeli sources de-
vesse s, e sa> , is
;lined to detail the composi.
PGM class of aluminum-hulled tion of their navy, the usually
patrol boats produced by the well-informed Institute foi
United States a few years ago Strategic Studies in Londor
as an answer to the Komar gives the following breakdown
class boats supplied to Cuba. as of June 30, for the Israel
The PGM-class craft have a and Egyptian navies:
to speed of 50 knots, 10 knots Israel: Four submarines, twc
p destroyers (including thi
faster than the Komar class, Elath), one frigate, one coasta
and are designed to maneuver escort, two landing craft an(
close and sink the enemy vessel. 11 motor torpedo boats of un
with automatic gunfire or tor- der 100 tons.
pedoes. They are small-165 United Arab Republic: eigh
destroyers, eight submarine,,
feet over-all-and fast enough six escort vessels, six coaste
to be a very difficult target for escorts, five Komar-class an
the Styx missiles carried by the seven Osa-clasj. missile boat:
Komar boats. 10 mh j (g?e 5 40 torped
The new class, the brjo i boats o un38r 00 tons, an,
source said, will have a speed six medm inirlg craft.
of "well over 40 knots," and
will mount three. 40-mm. ,gung;~
two side launchers for 21-i is
torpedoes and other classified
Continued on Page 9,.Column 1
boats.
Authoritative sources here
say that the boats should
enable Israel to maintain "qual-
itative superiority" over the
United Arab Republic's Navy
for some time to come.
While unwilling, for security
reasons, to state the number of
the boats that will come out of
Israeli shipyards, the military
sources were willing to discuss
,ome details of the new type of
iessel.
Well before the sinking of the
--lath Sept. 21 by Styx missiles,
high-ranking source said, the
sraeli Navy realized that its
mall force of World War II de-
itroyers, submarines and tore
Dedo boats was hardly a match
or the combined Arab navies,
tnd particularly, the United
Approved For Release 2005/07/25 : CIA-RDP70B00338R000300060025-2