IDF simulates attack on gas rigs in most complex naval drill in decades

The Israel Navy this week simulated an attack on the country's natural gas platforms, including a live-fire test of sea-to-sea missiles to destroy an "enemy ship," the military said Thursday. Four Sa'ar-4.5 model corvettes participated in the week-long naval exercise, dubbed "Raging Sea," which ended on Thursday. The military said it was the most complex naval drill in decades. The exercise included missiles fired from 4 ships simultaneously at an old cargo freighter acting as an enemy vessel. "We simulated an enemy ship coming to harm our strategic facilities and, with coordination at sea and in the air, we destroyed it," said Col. Guy Goldfarb, commander of the navy's gunships. The navy said the cargo ship sunk in the exercise - the Eyal, which was due to be scrapped - was meant to simulate an enemy ship transporting fighters to a natural gas platform in order to blow it up. The Harpoon anti-ship cruise missiles used in the exercise were fired from four Sa'ar corvettes at the same time, from a distance of approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles). An exercise of this size and complexity, which involved many ships as well as the live fire test, has not been conducted by the Israel Navy in approximately 20 years. Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip have both threatened to attack Israel's natural gas platforms. Israel has in recent years transformed into a major gas exporter after major reserves of the resource were discovered in its waters in the Mediterranean. ************************************ Photos: The drill yesterday, and an IDF navy ship nearby the Tamar gas rig

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