Israel Shipyards is now busy with delivering several important orders, the most important on which is its recent order from the Israel MoD to supply 5 Advanced RESHEF Missile Ships to the Israeli Navy. Future Warfare spoke with Oded Brier, a Senior Israel Shipyards executive on the sidelines of IMDEX maritime show in Singapore to gain an insight into the shipyard activities.

The five RESHEF class ships will be produced under a contract worth approximately USD 780 million, with options for additional vessels. The ships will be delivered to the Israeli Navy over a period of 6 years.

“These vessels will be the backbone of the Israeli Navy in the coming couple of decades, and will replace the NIRIT SA'AR 4.5-class missile ship, which will be decommissioned after 4 decades of service,” Brier said.

To stay ahead of its order pipeline, Israel Shipyards is now expanding and hiring more people.

“We will likely almost double our workforce within the next year or so, which is very good for us. And we are getting into a lot of automation in production. Once you have such a big order, you can afford another step forward for automation as well,” Brier informed.

A mockup of the RESHEF-class ship was showcased for the first time at IMDEX.

However, it is the export version of this vessel, known as the S-80, which is being promoted at the ongoing show. “The S-80 is offered to customers looking for a less expensive Corvette with the ability to carry all the systems they need, but in a smaller package, which is cheaper to buy and has lower life-cycle costs,” Brier said.

He added that the S-80 was being offered to several nations. “There is a lot of interest from different countries, even some European, and of course in the Asia Pacific region. There is a lot of interest also coming from some locations in Africa, which is a good surprise for us.”

A future version of the S-80 could even receive a hangar to carry one helicopter for nations that have such a requirement.

The company’s bestseller remains the SHALDAG Mk V, which is in service with many nations. The Israeli Navy, which has ordered four SHALDAG Mk V, is now looking to order some more.

Brier said that two vessels have already been delivered, and that the last two ships will be delivered this year. The SHALDAG Mk V has a displacement of approximately 95 tons, can attain a max speed of over 40 knots, and has a range of 1,000 NM when travelling at a speed of 12 knots.

Israel Shipyards has also completed deliveries of two S-45 OPVs ordered by Côte d'Ivoire.

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