Israel To Buy 6th German Submarine

05 May 2011 19:59
Source: Reuters // Reuters
Courtesy Of "Alert Net"

(Recasts for German government spokesman)

JERUSALEM, May 5 (Reuters) - Israel has decided to buy a sixth naval submarine from Germany, an Israeli official said on Thursday, though Berlin played down prospects of such a deal being close.

The proposed expansion of the diesel-powered Dolphin submarine fleet, considered Israel's vanguard against foes like Iran, had been held up by wrangling with Berlin over the $500 million to $700 million price tag.

"It's finalised. We will be getting another submarine from Germany," an official in Israel's Finance Ministry said.

The official said Israel planned to pay for the new Dolphin over several years, but did not provide details on the price.

Israel currently operates three Dolphins and has two more on order from Germany with delivery expected in the next two years.

Dedicated to the security of the Jewish state founded in the wake of the Holocaust, Germany sold those submarines at deep discounts. But Berlin, beset by budgetary constraints, balked in talks last year at similarly underwriting the sixth Dolphin and on Thursday a government spokesman indicated no new sale was in the works.

"The German government has no information whatsoever about the possible closing of a contract between Israel and a German shipyard," the spokesman said.

The Dolphins are manufactured by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW), which is owned by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems .

Political turbulence in the Middle East and Iran's nuclear programme have led Israel to float higher defence spending, which may have allowed it to absorb more of the Dolphin's price.

An official in Israel's Defence Ministry said it was examining ways of defraying some of the cost by fitting the submarine with more U.S.-made systems that would be paid for out of its $3 billion in annual military grants from Washington.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month, has been sympathetic to his regional concerns and championed international diplomatic campaigns to rein in Tehran. But Berlin has in the past heard misgivings from German opposition parties about exporting weapons to crisis areas. Israel is reputed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, including submarine-fired nuclear missiles. (Writing by Dan Williams and Brian Rohan; Editing by Jon Hemming)