The Israeli government on 20 January announced it had reached an agreement with German firm ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) on framework conditions for the purchase of three new Dakar-class hunter-killer (SSK) submarines.
TKMS said the Dakar-class boats would be built to a ‘completely new design’ engineered to meet Israeli Navy requirements and replace the country’s first batch of Dolphin-class submarines.
The purchase, worth around €3 billion ($3.40 billion), will be part-funded by a German government grant.
The Israeli MoD said the first submarine would be delivered to the navy within ‘about’ nine years, adding that the hulls would be