The Ministry of Defense, the Israeli Navy, and Israel Shipyards marked on February 18, 2025 the beginning of the production process for the Reshef-class ships (corvettes) in a traditional “steel cutting” ceremony, signaling the start of the manufacturing of five advanced warships. The event was attended by Acting Director General of the Ministry of Defense Itamar Graf, Commander of the Israeli Navy Vice Admiral David Saar Salama, Deputy Director General and Head of the Defense Procurement Directorate (DOPP) Ze’ev Landau, Head of the Finance Division at the Ministry of Defense CPA Dekel Cohen, owners of Israel Shipyards Industries Shlomi Fogel, Assi Shmeltzer, and Sami Katzav, CEO of Israel Shipyards Eitan Zucker, and other senior officials. As part of the deal, led by the outgoing Director General of the Ministry of Defense, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Eyal Zamir, Israel Shipyards will provide the Navy with five advanced “Reshef”-class ships at a cost of approximately NIS 2.8B ($780M). The new ships are expected to replace the old “Saar” (Sa’ar 4.5 or else Nirit Class) vessels, which will be retired after nearly four decades of service. My story for Naval News, here.
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A newly released infographic of the under-construction 140-meter frigate for the Indonesian Navy (TNI AL)—known as the Red White Frigate (Fregat Merah Putih)—reveals key details of its combat system configuration. The Merah Putih-class frigate, a variant of Babcock’s Arrowhead 140 design, which itself is derived from the Royal Danish Navy’s Iver Huitfeldt-class frigate, is being built by PT PAL Indonesia in Surabaya. Construction of the first ship-in-class began with the steel-cutting ceremony on December 9, 2022. The ship’s keel was laid down on 25 August 2025. Variants of the Arrowhead 140 are also being developed for other navies, including the United Kingdom’s Inspiration-class (Type 31) and Poland’s Miecznik program. The frigate’s equipment is categorized as “Fitted For, But Not With” (FFBNW) and “Main Contract Equipment”, with most weapons and sensors supplied by Turkish firms (Aselsan, Meteksan, Roketsan, and Havelsan) as well as Italian defense companies (Leonardo and ELT Group). My story (with additional reporting by Tayfun Ozberk) for Naval News, here.
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