Israel receives German-built INS Drakon submarine
Israel has received the INS Drakon from ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems in Kiel as it expands its submarine fleet.
Kiel, Germany. Israel has received the INS Drakon, a German-built submarine valued at about €550 million, as the country continues to expand its naval capabilities.
Delivery and specifications
The submarine was delivered on Monday by German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems at its facilities in Kiel.
The INS Drakon is the sixth and final vessel in Israel’s Dolphin II submarine series. It had originally been scheduled for delivery in 2025.
At more than 70 metres long and with a displacement exceeding 2,000 tonnes, the Drakon is larger than earlier vessels in the series.
Submarine programme
Israel agreed a €3 billion programme with ThyssenKrupp in 2022 covering the construction of the Drakon and three additional Dakar-class submarines.
The German government is expected to cover about 20 per cent of the cost.
According to reports on its delivery, the Drakon is the largest submarine built in Germany since the Second World War.
Fleet role and name
The vessel was built specifically for the Israeli Navy and forms part of a submarine fleet Israel considers an important element of its strategic capabilities.
Israel’s Defence Ministry has said the Hebrew letters in its name refer to Dakar, honouring the INS Dakar submarine, which sank off the coast of Cyprus while en route to Israel in 1968.
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