Israel launches the new Drakon missile submarine and the armament is a mystery
The Israeli Navy is notorious for the secrecy surrounding its submarine force. 5 Dolphin-I/II-class submarines are believed to be carrying nuclear-armed missiles. Now the new vessel, INS Drakon, has been quietly launched in Kiel, Germany and displays a renewed and enlarged missile armament.
A variant of the successful Dolphin-II class, her unique lines also display Israel's fiercely independent naval thinking.
INS Drakon is larger than any previous Israeli submarine, being much longer than the first two Dolphin-II vessels. Even more evident is the gigantic superstructure. This probably contains its defining feature: new advanced missiles.
The need for a means of greater displacement
The Dolphin-II already had a lengthened hull from the original Dolphin-I to accommodate AIP (air independent power supply). The new hull insert makes the submarine even longer. Based on available information, the later Dakar class will be roughly the same length as the Drakon and feature a similarly stretched sail. So INS Drakon can be thought of as the bridge between the Dolphin class and the future Dakar class.
The submarines have already been fitted with missile silos in the superstructure. The Soviet Union's first purpose-built ballistic missile submarines, the Hotel and Golf classes, followed this trend. More recently North Korea has exploited this trick to fit larger missiles into smaller submarines. Yet the German-designed submarine is the first modern submarine to display this characteristic
Rough estimates suggest that the longer hull and sail add a space approximately 2 meters wide by 4 meters long and up to 11 meters deep. This could accommodate two large missile silos or, more likely, 4-8 smaller ones. It is also reasonable to assume that they can be nuclear-armed.
Other explanations for this curious setup should also be considered. Perhaps he meant special forces equipment. Or perhaps a hangar for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), circuit munitions or even a rescue submersible. But none of these are as convincing as the missile hypothesis.
New missiles
The exact nature of the new missiles can only be guessed at. By implication they are ballistic missiles, possibly with a guided final stage. Whatever they are, Israel guards the secret carefully.
The placement of the missile tubes in the hull under the superstructure allows for much longer missiles than if they had to be accommodated under the deck skin. The sail adds several meters to their possible length, although weight and stability still need to be considered.
Interestingly, despite the new missiles placed in the center, the submarine still has four extra torpedo tubes in the bow. These appear to be unchanged from previous Dophin-I and II class boats. The extra tubes are larger than the normal 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes. They are believed to be dedicated to Israeli-developed cruise missiles, so this submarine either has two different types of missiles or is capable of firing the same missiles horizontally and vertically.
Perhaps vertical and horizontal missiles have different functions, for example some may have nuclear warheads some may not.
A more prosaic answer is that the vertical launch tubes were added late in the design, perhaps even after construction had begun. It may have been cheaper and easier to keep the additional torpedo tubes. This would be despite the temptation of weight savings and simplification if they were removed.
It could take some time, maybe years, to decipher the submarine's capabilities. In fact, the Israeli Navy keeps some aspects of its existing submarines secret, so we may never know everything.
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The article Israel launches the new Drakon missile submarine and the armament is a mystery comes from Scenarios Economics .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/israele-vara-il-nuovo-sottomarino-lanciamissili-drakon-e-larmamento-e-un-mistero/ on Wed, 16 Aug 2023 06:00:12 +0000.