Special to WorldTribune.com

TEL AVIV — Israel, unable to afford a U.S. model, has been developing a missile boat.

The state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries has been preparing a project to develop a combat vessel that would enhance naval firepower.

Officials said the warship, called the Multirole Super Dvora, would combine
maneuverability and firepower in a platform less than 100 feet long.

“We’re in the preliminary development stage,” Nitzan Shaked, general
manager of IAI’s Ramta plant. “The basic idea is to offer a ship with many
more capabilities, while making sure it won’t be too expensive or too big.”

The project was launched a year after Israel withdrew from plans to
procure the Littoral Combat Ship from the United States. Officials
acknowledged that the Israeli government, amid significant budget cuts,
could not afford the more than $250 million for LCS, produced by Lockheed
Martin.

Instead, MSD was meant to serve as an interim solution to a larger
patrol boat that could also conduct attack missions. IAI has already
developed the Super Dvora vessel for maritime security missions near the
coast of Lebanon and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Officials said MSD would replace the fleet of 15 aging Dabour patrol
boats. They said MSD would also succeed Super Dvora Mk-3, three of which
were ordered by the Israel Navy in September 2013.

A key feature of MSD would be deployment of a miniaturized variant of
the Barak missile defense system, also by IAI. Barak has been deployed on
the larger Saar-4 and -5 missile boats to protect against Iranian and Syrian
anti-ship missiles.

Officials said MSD would not be funded by the Israeli Defense Ministry.
They said IAI was looking for investors to develop a small missile boat that
could be exported to Israel’s allies.

“The condition for this project to materialize is finding the means to
finance, it,” Shaked told Israel’s business daily Globes. “We’re already in
talks with several countries which have expressed an interest in the program
and will want to procure the new platform. I hope we’ll succeed in reaching
understandings and agreements in 2014.”

  Barak missile defense system, Israel Aerospace Industries, Israel can’t afford U.S. warships, Israel develops its own missile boat, Littoral Combat Ship, Multirole Super Dvora, plans to develop its own