Des missiles Barak-8 installés bientôt sur les plates-formes pétrolières israéliennes pour contrer la menace Yakhont

According to the updated plans for protecting Israel’s offshore gas rigs, the Israeli Navy will equip the rigs with Barak missiles for defense against Yakhont missiles. The gas rigs are located at a distance of nearly 80 miles from the coasts of Israel, and near the coasts of Lebanon. The plans additionally include the acquisition of four new missile boats, as well as naval observation and collection measures, including UAVs.
The use of the Barak missiles is intended to solve the severe problem troubling the Israeli Navy – the Russian missile Yakhont that Russia sold to Syria and which according to assessments will also be transferred to Hezbollah (if it has not been transferred already).
In the past year, the supply of the missile to Syria has become a done deal. The Yakhont can hit naval vessels at a distance of up to 300 kilometers with considerable precision, and it is equipped with a warhead containing 200 kilograms of explosives. The missile flies towards its target at a speed twice the speed of sound.
The Yakhont’s characteristics make its interception very difficult: at a distance of several kilometers from the attacked target, the “sea-skimming” missile descends to a cruise altitude of roughly ten meters above sea level, making it difficult for radars to detect it. The Yakhont’s homing head is build so that it is very difficult for electro-optic defense systems to get a lock on it while in flight.
The Israeli Navy presently possesses the Barak-1 missile, jointly developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Rafael a decade ago. The intent is to equip the rigs with Barak-8 missiles, which are in advanced development stages at IAI.
The system is intended to protect not only the rig or the vessel carrying the missiles, but also fleets of vessels sailing together in a given expanse. The objective is to supply comprehensive perimeter defense to the entire navy, with command and control (C2) systems receiving data from the radar systems of the different vessels and integrating them to create a shared combat and threat picture.
The Barak-8 system includes an advanced C2 center, developed by IAI’s Mabat Missiles factory. The system integrates mission management towards managing an individual fire system or managing fire from several units in parallel. The Barak-8 has a radar system that presents a 360-degree hemispheric picture, above the vessel or the vessel layout. It has a high resolution and can detect missiles with a very low radar cross section area. The system is also suitable for countering naval “seaskimming” cruise missiles, as well as threats to aircraft or helicopters.

The Barak-8 missile is single-staged: the missile has fixed stabilizers in its lower section and driving surfaces in its bow. The interceptors are stabilized with carrying and launch containers, which are fixed vertically below the deck of the missile boats. Once a target is received, the missile is launched vertically and immediately transitions to horizontal flight in order to hit and destroy the target, while receiving indications and data from the vessel’s guidance system. Once the target is within range of its self-detection systems, it locks on it and destroys it. The interceptor possesses advanced homing capabilities, suitable for intercepting aircraft and missiles flying at a low altitude above the water, in all weather conditions. The Barak missile family also includes an surface-to-air variant for protecting against aircraft. IAI has thus far sold the system to foreign countries (primarily to India) at billions of dollars, and it is anticipated that additional sales in the scope of billions will take place.