Israeli Navy has commissioned its new Drakon submarine. It costed 550 million euros to build, compared to 400 million for the two submarines that preceded it, and 300 million for the first three – and this sum does not include ancillary projects of developments for it by the Ministry of Defense and the defense industries in Israel.
What is it about INS Dragon that hasn’t existed in Israeli submarines until now? With a length of 70 meters, a dragon is 11 meters longer than the first Dolphin submarines. The reason is easy to see with the eye. Its “sail”, the upper part jutting out of its cylindrical hull, is much longer than that of previous submarines, by another four meters.
The reason is the addition of a component originally developed for the South Korean Navy submarine known as VLS, which allows missiles to be placed vertically, as is common in American and Russian attack submarines with ballistic missiles.
According to foreign sources, the Dolphin submarines were the first not intended to be used only in the classic roles of underwater warfare and intelligence gathering, but carried cruise missiles on which nuclear warheads could be mounted. If the reports are correct, they gave Israel for the first time a “second strike” capability that was previously only available to the superpowers: even if an Iranian attack succeeds in penetrating the Arrow missile array and severely damaging Israel with nuclear weapons, The IDF will still have the ability to respond with an attack of its own.
If the reports are correct, ballistic missiles will upgrade this capability: they are faster and have the potential to reach a longer range. This is not only a critical operational capability, but also an increase in Israel’s nuclear deterrence, an attack on which will not paralyze its ability to launch an attack of its own.
What Israeli systems will the dragon have? According to foreign reports, Rafael manufactures the cruise missile installed in the Dolphin submarines, adapted for launch from their torpedo tubes, called Popeye Turbo, based on a version of it previously offered to the British.
Rafael and IAI have developed smaller-than-usual ballistic missiles launched from aircraft that can be adapted for launch from other platforms, reportedly used in air strikes in Iran.
Rafael’s Turbuster System: Posing as a submarine, attracting a hostile torpedo and destroying it. In recent years, Rafael has unveiled advanced submarine defense systems, the Turbatsar, capable of intercepting torpedo missiles launched from other submarines, ships and helicopters. The system is launched from the submarine like a torpedo, serves as bait that masquerades as submarines, pulls the hostile torpedo away from the submarine it is protecting, and when it approaches it destroys it.