INS Eilat accelerated missile-defence work

Did the sinking of INS Eilat change Western anti-ship-missile and close-in-defence development?

It accelerated and visibly validated work already under way.

The sinking of INS Eilat accelerated an existing technological trend. Western navies were already considering anti-ship missiles and close-in defences before the loss. Eilat supplied a vivid demonstration of the threat and increased the urgency of that work. Tsushima had played a comparable role by publicly validating long-range heavy-gun fire without single-handedly creating the all-big-gun battleship.