[Cicero]

You put it in a nutshell. This is a VERY serious development. They knocked out one of Israel's key ships. Obviously Israel had a serious intelligence failure, was drawn in and sucker-punched, and did not expect anything like this. Now they had better get back to the drawing board and put together a careful response.

Obviously the first step is to locate and destroy any other such Iranian missiles within range.

We still have guys like Olmert in charge, and an IDF leadership that until recently was more anxious to go after Settlers than Terrorists. The Israeli military and intelligence professionals are good, but it doesn't help to have weak leadership that is only fighting because they were forced to in order to cover up their weakness and earlier failures.

[gafusa]

Agreed. Israel should be more careful. They walked right into that one. The were way to close to the shore, and had there undefended stern exposed. The Israeli ships can only intercept missiles from forward, the weapons are mounted on the bow only. Unlike the larger and more advanced US air/missiles defense equipped vessels, they do not have 360 degree capability. Frankly Israel needs major work on their Navy. Tiny and light ships like the Saar are not enough. And only 3 tiny German subs? They really need to beef up their naval equipment. We should begin producing diesel electric subs, reviving the Barbel class has been proposed. Huge market, especially from Israel and Taiwan, who have difficulty getting them from the Europeans afraid they might offend the Chinazis or Muslims.

[Jeff Head]

If that ship was there off the coast, then they were as prepared as they could be. It is their best and clearly, for it to be there protecting the gun ships doing the shore bombarment, they were concerned about serious anti-air threats. If the commanding officer or the higher commands failed and did not take the threat seriously, precisely for which that ship was designed, some heads are going to roll.
<p.
They will learn from it...as will we. But then again, so will our enmeies.

[Jeff Head]

If that ship was there off the coast, then they were as prepared as they could be. It is their best and clearly, for it to be there protecting the gun ships doing the shore bombarment, they were concerned about serious anti-air threats. If the commanding officer or the higher commands failed and did not take the threat seriously, precisely for which that ship was designed, some heads are going to roll.
<p.
They will learn from it...as will we. But then again, so will our enmeies.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Obviously the first step is to locate and destroy any other such Iranian missiles within range.

Can these missiles be launched from mobile vehicles? If so, to destroy them would require in-field intel, right?