Israel buys 2 new submarines from Germany

In the face of Iran's race to obtain nuclear power, Israel signed a contract with Germany last month to buy two Dolphin-class submarines that will, according to foreign reports, provide superior second-strike nuclear capabilities, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The submarines will be assembled in Germany and provided with a propulsion system allowing them to remain underwater for far longer than the submarines currently in the Israel Navy's fleet.

The contract signing was said to have come after a long dispute over the price and financing of the submarines. According to the details obtained by the Post, Israel will purchase the two Dolphins, manufactured by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft AG, for $1.27 billion, a third of which will be financed by the German government.

News of the impending deal first emerged in November after Der Spiegel reported that chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's outgoing government had agreed to sell Israel two submarines at a heavily discounted price.

Closure of the deal followed on the heels of a warming in German-Israel ties. In 2005, the countries agreed for the first time to hold joint ground maneuvers. In June, the INS Eilat missile ship participated for the first time in a NATO exercise in the Black Sea, together with German Navy.

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Now Israel is cadging their wmd from Germany... at a discounted price mind you. I guess all is forgiven now since Germany is outfitting Israel with spiffy new war toys. The more I think about this the more disgusted I am. Germany should be totally ashamed for doing this. This is just wrong on so many levels.

SUCK EGGS GERMANY

View Full Version : Report: Israel beats German navy in sub war game

In a rare revelation of war games between Israel and one of its allies, a newspaper reported over the weekend that an Israeli submarine engaged in a mock underwater battle with a German rival and won.

According to Yediot Ahronot, the war game took place last week, lasted "a few hours" and involved depths of hundreds of meters. The Dolphin-class submarine "Tekuma" succeeded in tailing the German vessel. She followed the German submarine at a safe distance without being detected until the end of the exercise, the report said.

"The fact that we are surrounded by enemy countries and are in a constant state of operational action and not just engaged in exercises, has made our underwater operational capabilities some of the highest in the world," Col. Eyal, the outgoing commander of the submarine flotilla was quoted as saying.

It was the first time since the three German-made Dolphin class submarines arrived in the country that the navy accepted a sub-to-sub challenge with a foreign navy, the report said.

With a crew of 33 and a captain who is only 31 years old, the Dolphins are the most expensive piece of weaponry in the IDF's arsenal the diesel-electric submarines, manufactured by Kiel-based Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft AG, were mostly paid for by the Germans. Israel has reportedly sought to purchase two more of the sophisticated submarines.