BICOM

Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other dignitaries yesterday unveiled Israel’s newest Dolphin-class submarine, which is thought to be capable of delivering a nuclear payload, boosting Israel’s so-called “second strike” capability.

At a ceremony in Haifa Port, the INS Rahav completed its journey from Kiel in Germany where it was constructed. In his comments, Netanyahu thanked “the German government, Chancellor Merkel and President Gauck, for your great contribution to building up our naval strength by supplying this submarine and other important means that we are discussing.”

The INS Rahav is Israel’s fifth Dolphin-class submarine, multipurpose vessels equipped with state of the art surveillance and countermeasure systems. It is capable of remaining underwater for weeks at a time. Alongside INS Tanin, INS Rahav is larger than Israel’s other submarines and is thought to have nuclear capability. Netanyahu said yesterday, “Above all else, our submarine fleet acts as a deterrent to our enemies who want to destroy us … They need to know that Israel can attack, with great might, anyone who tries to harm it.”

President Rivlin described INS Rahav as a “formidable war machine,” which is “the most advanced, complex and most expensive” military item at Israel’s disposal. It is thought to have cost £345 million, with Germany subsidising some of the cost. Rivlin said that the new submarine “will take an active part in defending the country and its maritime territory, by acting deeper, further and longer underwater.” He added, “The watery depths that you control provides us with security.”

Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon also attended the ceremony, saying that the submarine helps give Israel “offensive capabilities that enable us to strike in any place we choose, along Israel’s coasts and far from them.” He added that Israel will “know how to reach any place in the Middle East and beyond, and place its hands on terrorist operatives … And if we have to, also strike the weapons they seek to stockpile in order to use against us.”