Israel’s latest submarine, INS Drakon (‘Dragon’), has been launched in Kiel, Germany. It indicates significant growth in Israeli submarine capabilities. A variant of the successful Dolphin-II class, its unique lines also showcase Israel’s fiercely independent naval thinking.

INS Drakon is larger than any previous Israeli submarine, being much longer than the first two Dolphin-II boats. Even more noticeable is the ginormous sail. This likely contains its defining feature: advanced new missiles.

Needing A Bigger Boat

The Dolphin-II already had a lengthened hull compared to the original Dolphin-I in order to fit in AIP (air independent power). The new hull insert makes the submarine even longer. Based on available information, the follow-on Dakar class will be about the same length as Drakon and feature a similarly lengthened sail. So INS Drakon can be thought of as the bridge between the Dolphin class and the future Dakar Class.

Naval News had previously reported that the submarine was likely to be longer, and feature a vertical launch system. But at that time it wasn’t clear that the missiles would be in the sail.

Submarines have been equipped with missile silos in the sail before. The Soviet Union’s first purpose built ballistic missile submarines, the Hotel and Golf classes, did this. More recently North Korea has leveraged this trick to get larger missiles into smaller submarines. Yet the German-designed submarine is the first truly modern design to feature this.

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 a reasonable assumption that they can be nuclear armed.

Other explanations for the large sail should also be considered. Possibly it related to special forces equipment. Or possibly a hangar for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), uncrewed air vehicles (UAVs), loitering 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 is keeping it secret.

Placing the missile tubes in the hull below the sail allows for much longer missiles than if they had to be accommodated under the deck casing. The sail adds several meters to their possible length, although weight and stability still needs to be considered.

Interestingly, despite the new missiles in the sail, the submarine still has four extra torpedo tubes in the bow. These appear to be unchanged from the previous Dophin-I & II class boats. The extra tubes are larger than regular 533mm (21 inch) torpedo tubes. They are understood to be dedicated to Israeli developed cruise missiles. These missiles can be nuclear armed and, it is believed, form part of Israel’s nuclear deterrent.

A New Mystery About The Armament

Having both the torpedo tubes for nuclear armed cruise missiles and the vertical launch tubes may surprise analysts. It suggests that the new missiles are not a direct replacement for the cruise missiles.

One explanation is that the new weapons will not be ready until after the submarine enters service. Indeed, Drakon may be used to test the new missiles. So retaining the torpedo tubes allows continued nuclear deterrence during the transition.

Possibly one set of missiles will be conventionally armed and the other nuclear armed. This would allow land attack missions while simul maintaining a nuclear deterrence.

A more prosaic answer is that the vertical launch tubes were added late in the design, possibly even after construction had started. 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 may take some time, possibly years, to decipher the submarine’s capabilities. Indeed, the Israeli Navy keeps some aspects of their existing submarines secret, so we may never know all of it. But as new images come in, some parts of the puzzle may fall into place.