Does anyone have pictures from the interview which showed the missile being fired? Thus far, I have not seen any compelling evidence that the missile involved was a C802. The fact that the corvette hit did not sink (or rather, was not blown out of the water, literally) also makes it pretty unlikely that a missile of the C802’s weight class hit the ship itself. From everything I have read so far, a hit from the much smaller, but externally similar C701 optical guided missile seems to fit the facts better.
The only likely scenario I can see where a corvette can survive a C802 hit is if the missile did not hit the ship itself, but rather detonated close to the ship. Since the Barat system was turned off, the missile must have struck. Although it is possible that the stealthy design of the ship confused the missile seeker, thus the missile locked onto and hit the helo on deck instead of the ship itself. But then, an IR seeker could just as likely have locked onto the helo if it was on standby and had its engine running.
Does anyone know if the helo was on deck or in the hanger at the time and what state of readiness it is in?
I did read in one of the British aviation magazines (not one of Keypublishing’s i think) that the missile hit a crane on the helicopter deck. This would match the scenario of a close detonation of a C802.
I personally think the C701 was the culprit it fits into the local picture far better than the C802:
Its smaller making it far easier to conceal and deploy.
It has an IR seeker option thus avoiding the deployment of radars.
Its licence built in Iran.
In all respects the C701 is a more suitable system for an organisation like Hezbollah who haven’t got the resources to support a large complicated weapon system like C802.
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