| Gabriel | |
|---|---|
An IAI Gabriel Anti-ship missile on display |
|
| Type | Anti-ship missile |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1962 |
| Used by | See users |
| Production history | |
| Manufacturer | Israel Aircraft Industries |
| Variants | developed from Luz (missile) |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | Mark I: 430 kg (950 lb) Mark II: 522 kg (1,150 lb) |
| Length | 3.35 m (11.0 ft) |
| Diameter | 340 mm (13 in) |
|
|
|
| Warhead | 100 kg (220 lb) |
|
|
|
| Wingspan | 1.35 m (4 ft 5 in) |
| Operational range |
Mark I: 20 km (12 mi) Mark II:6–36 km (3.7–22 mi) |
| Flight altitude | 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) |
| Guidance system |
Semi-active radar and manual |
Gabriel missiles, created by Israel Aircraft Industries, are a range of anti-ship missiles that use the technique of sea-skimming.
Contents |
On October 21, 1967, 4 Styx missiles sunk the destroyer INS Eilat which was patrolling along the northern shores of the Sinai. Forty-seven Israeli soldiers and officers were killed or went missing in action and 100 were injured.[1] The loss of the ship prompted the Israeli navy to ask Israel Aircraft Industries to accelerate the development of an anti-ship missile, which had begun in 1958 with the Luz (or Lutz) program.
Faced with Rafael's anxiety to develop a new guidance system, Shlomo Arel asked IAI to take over the program by recruiting Ori Even-Tov, a former Rafael engineer. Even-Tov suggested dropping the guidance joystick approach in use with the Luz. Instead, he proposed the development of an autonomous guidance system which would allow the missile to seek its objective, even in bad weather or bad visibility.[2] He further proposed using an altimeter, allowing the missile to fly several some meters over the surface of the sea, making it difficult to detect and allowing it to hit the target just above the waterline. A radar , installed on the ship, had to guide the missile, while the altimeter had to maintain the missile in sea-skimming mode.[2]
The development of the Gabriel for the Israeli Navy began in 1962 with the first model being ready by the 1973 Yom Kippur War.[3]
Work on an improved version, the Gabriel Mk 2, started in 1972 and it entered service in 1976. It was also built under licence in Taiwan, as the Hsiung Feng 1 and South Africa under the name 'Skerpioen' (Afrikaans for Scorpion).[4]
Gabriel III and Gabriel III A/S were introduced in 1978[5] with major improvements. The air-launched Gabriel III A/S has a range of over 60 km.[6] Both Gabriel III versions utilise the now widely used 'fire and forget' mode. The Gabriel III flies so low that it is extremely hard for enemy targets to detect early enough to counter.[7]
Gabriel IV is a new long-range turbojet-powered version that has a 200 km range[8]
Israel Aerospace Industries is reportedly working on a Gabriel V (Advanced Naval Attack Missile), with an advanced active radar seeker designed for cluttered littoral environments.[9][10]
During the Yom Kippur War the Gabriel I was used for the first time during the Battle of Latakia. Israeli missile boats armed with Gabriel Mk 1 missiles were credited with defeating Syrian ships armed with the Soviet-made Styx missile. Even though the Styx missile had a longer range, it was the Gabriel's reliability and flexibility of handling that propelled the Israeli Navy to victory. It is known that the Syrians shot missile salvos at the charging Israeli vessels but missed due to the Israeli ECM technology of the time. When they were in range, the Israeli boats launched their Gabriel missiles, and sank all but one Syrian Osa class ship; which was later sunk by cannon fire. After defeating the Syrian Navy (surviving Syrian ships stayed in port) the Israeli missile boats defeated the Egyptian navy as well, thus achieving naval supremacy for the rest of the war.[11][12]
Older models of the Gabriel are still used by Chile, Ecuador, Israel, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Kenya, and other countries. During the Yom Kippur War in 1973, however, the P-15 was much less successful. From October 6–12, 54 missiles were fired to no effect, according to Western sources. The aforementioned Russian sources, however, claim that a total of seven ships were sunk - all small types, such as trawlers, patrol boats, and missile boats. But the Russian specialists agreed with their Western counterparts that the overall results were unsatisfying, especially considering that seven Egyptian and Syrian vessels were sunk after being hit by Israeli Gabriel Mk.1 anti-ship missiles. Interestingly, this last figure is commonly recognized by specialists in both the West and East. The first such encounter took place during the night of October 6–7, 1973, near Latakia on the Syrian coast. Israeli forces used helicopters flying slowly at very low altitude, effectively simulating naval targets. No Israeli ship was hit by the large salvo of P-15s subsequently fired by Syrians, who themselves lost the T-43 class trawler Jarmuk and three torpedo boats to Israeli Gabriel missiles. The Syrian missile boats withdrew successfully, but all of their missiles missed the Israeli helicopters, which had climbed to break the missile radars' locks. On the same night, a similar trick with helicopters was repeated against Egyptian ships north of the Sinai Peninsula. Yet another encounter took place near Latakia on the night of October 10–11. This time, the missile exchange between Israeli and Syrian missile boats took place without the use of helicopters, and Israeli ships relied on chaff launchers. The Syrian vessels maneuvered outside their harbor, among the anchored merchant ships. Two of the warships were sunk by Gabriels, which also hit two neutral ships (the Greek Tsimentaros and the Japanese Yamashuro Maru). According to Israeli sources, the use of chaff saved all of its vessels, but it is possible that, on that occasion, at least one Sa'ar-class missile boat was hit and sunk (Russian sources claim three). The following night, the helicopter trick was again successfully used during an encounter near Tartus, off the Syrian coast. Again, no Israeli ship was hit by a salvo of P-15s fired by Syrian missile boats. On the Syrian side, two Komar-class vessels were sunk by Gabriels and also the Soviet merchant ship Ilya Mechnikov was hit. On the same night, a similar encounter took place off the coast of Port Sai
|
||||||||||||||||||||