West Germany is building two advanced submarines for the Israeli navy.
The diesel-powered Dolphin-class undersea craft will cost approximately $600 million. The deal was approved by the ministerial defense committee in Bonn, headed by Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
The subs, part of Israel’s naval expansion program, will be sold by the West German ship-yard to the Engels Corp. in the United States, the Israeli navy’s prime procurement contractor.
Engels is building three Sa’ar V-class missile boats for the navy. Along with the U-boats, they will bring the price tag to over $1.2 billion.
Most of the money will come from Israel’s annual U.S. military assistance grant of $1.8 billion, which may be cut by $25 million this fiscal year because of pressures to reduce the U.S. budget deficit.
The Israel Defense Force General Staff voted to suspend the submarine procurement indefinitely last spring because it exceeded Israel’s defense budget.
The decision was overruled by Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and the budget was subsequently supplemented by the needed amount.
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