Sorry to revive a necro thread but I think this article on China Defense Blog pretty much confirms to my mind that INS Hanit was hit by a C701 variant:

http://china-defense.blogspot.com/2011/03/chinese-designed-c704-on-displayfor-all.html

Its the longer ranged C704 but you get a good idea of how portable and hideable the system is. Along with the launch containers one small control console and a Kelvin Hughes navigation type radar.

Watching footage of Mirage 2000-5F on AlJazeera, pilots doing walkrounds etc. Aircraft loaded with three fuel pods and a heavy load of MIC-IR and MICA-EM ready for CAP.

Only footage of RAF Tornado GR4 is a very short grainy takeoff on the BBC. I presume the UKs capability of launching ALARM anti radar missiles will be prised, only Italy has a similar capability.

Gadaffi is threatening to attack targets in the med, he must be fully stocked up on his crazy pills! If he did sanction attacks on targets outside Libya it would be just the excuse to pulverise his armed forces from the air…of course I don’t know how much bottle his soldiers will show in the face of modern airpower.

Because going to periscope depth and engaging aircraft with missiles gives up your primary defense of stealth.

Well as I said the key is the rebels, if they ignore the ceasefire they might have a chance.

We shall see…

Spoilsport!

But it does present a BIG problem, STALEMATE!

This is what I was worried might happen, Gadaffi deciding to write off Benghazi for the moment and consolodate what he has on the ground.

This does leave the issue of a very unstable revenge minded dictator in power who will wait until the Western powers can’t sustain a NFZ! The only way forward is to poor weapons into Benghazi and hope the rebels wag Gadaffis tail.

The level of excitement in the GR4 and Typhoon squadrons must be through the roof at the moment!:D

After the horrors of SDSR and ongoing PR11 trouble the chance to actually do what they are paid for and even get a chance to see some air to air combat as well as SEAD/DEAD duties must be generating a buzz!

I bet they are also praying that the US doesn’t throw a spanner in the works and demand that American assets do everything to ensure that they get good press on primetime news…

Indeed it just isn’t a big deal in respect of two EMALS/EMCAT catapult. They designed in space for steam plant so adding in more smaller gas turbines if required shouldn’t be a big deal.

It would certainly be nice if DAX II gets a second chance frankly it was a superb solution. A revised design would certainly benefit from modern materials technology as well.