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The Israeli Navy’s Missile Boats Flotilla on Thursday finished an extensive two-week training exercise, which culminated in the launch of two anti-ship Harpoon missiles at a decommissioned Israeli missile boat.
Two of the Navy’s missile boats, INS Hetz and INS Herev, fired the Harpoon, known as Kanarit in Hebrew, to its maximum range of some 120 kilometers.
Their target, the INS Atzmaut, was retired from service a year and a half ago along with INS Nitzachon.
The Harpoon missiles accurately hit the INS Atzmaut and it sunk in short order.
A team in a Eurocopter AS565 Panther helicopter circling over the target helped locate the wreckage of the INS Atzmaut, which was simulating a medium-sized enemy ship.
The Harpoon is considered the most advanced missile in the Navy’s arsenal, with its own radar that could identify the target and hone in on it during flight until hitting it.
During the training, which was done as part of a wide-scale annual IDF exercise, the forces drilled different naval warfare scenarios while collaborating with Air and Ground forces. But the launch of a real missile at a ship simulating an enemy vessel is considered unusual in the IDF, mostly because of the high costs of the weapon systems.
