Dakar class Attack Submarine SSK Israeli Navy Heil HaYam

Israeli Navy - Sea Corps of Israel
Dakar class Submarine

dakar class attack submarine ssk aip israel navy heil hayam tkms 02x

02/24

Ships:

Unit / Name	Commissioned	STATUS
INS Dakar	2031 ?
INS ?
INS ?

Specifications:

Builder:
ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), Kiel, Germany

Displacement: ? tons surfaced / ? tons submerged
Length: 74 meters (243 feet) - estimated
Beam: ?
Draft: ?
Speed: ?
Range: ?
Complement: ?

Propulsion:
Diesel-electric propulsion
Air-independent propulsion (AIP)

1 shaft / 1 propeller

Armament:
Torpedoes
Submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM)
Anti-ship missiles

Systems:
?

The Dakar-class submarine is a class of diesel-electric / AIP attack submarines ordered by the Israeli Navy from German-based naval conglomerate ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS).

The Dakar class features a new design compared to the Israeli Navy's currently-serving Dolphin-class submarines. It has been customized to fulfill the operational requirements of the Israeli Navy. The class was named in honor of INS Dakar, an Israeli submarine which mysteriously sank in 1968.

In January 2022, Israel's Ministry of Defense ordered three submarines as a replacement to the first batch of the Israeli Navy's Dolphin-class submarines; the first of the new submarines are slated to enter service within nine years.

Design:
Current details about the class' design are scant; however, it is understood that the submarines have been specifically engineered to fulfill the operational requirements of the Israeli Navy. According to a computer-generated rendering released by TKMS, the design of the Dakar class appears to be similar to the Dolphin-class submarines and the concept art of the Type 212CD submarine, currently being built for the German Navy and the Royal Norwegian Navy.

Distinctive features:
Inclusion of an enlarged sail along the hull; with regard to other conventionally-powered submarines, an enlarged sail is reportedly a rare feature. Several reasons suggested as the motive for the inclusion of the enlarged sail include:

- Integration of an airlock for special operations.
- Additional space for deploying unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
- Expansion of command-and-control facilities, for supporting various types of ISR capabilities.
- Additional space for equipping submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM).

- Inclusion of an "X-shaped" rudder configuration, similar to that of the Dolphin-class submarines; however, the Dakar-class design omits the smaller horizontal and vertical stabilizers - features which were present on the Dolphin class.

- Inclusion of a submarine screw configuration reminiscent to that of the Type 218SG submarine and the Type 216 submarine concept.

Armament:
Current details about the armament of the Dakar class are scant; however, it is believed that apart from its torpedo tubes, the class' design may incorporate vertical launching system (VLS) cells, capable of firing submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM), or submarine-launched cruise missiles (SLCM) - presumably equipped with nuclear warheads or surface-to-air missile (SAM).

Capabilities:
Little is known about the class' designated capabilities, ostensibly due to Israel's tight control on information and confidentiality regarding its military assets, especially its submarine fleet. According to Benny Gantz, Israel's Minister of Defense, the Dakar-class submarines would "upgrade the capabilities of the Israeli Navy, and will contribute to Israel's security superiority in the region".

Concurrently, it is believed that the submarines may feature ballistic missiles, given the submarines' unusually long sail - presumably to accommodate VLS cells, although there is no indication that Israel has, or is currently developing an SLBM.

The suggestion that an enlarged sail may probably be used for housing nuclear-tipped missiles is very likely; for example, early-generations of Soviet-designed ballistic missile submarines, such as the Project 611 submarines, carried ballistic missiles in their sail. If true, the Dakar class would be the second class of conventionally-powered, air-independent propulsion (AIP)-equipped submarines capable of carrying and launching ballistic missiles; the first one is the KSS-III submarine operated by the Republic of Korea Navy, although it carries ballistic missiles in its hull, not in its sail.

Aside from the prospective use of ballistic missiles, the possibility of utilizing VLS cells in the sail for accommodating additional missiles - whose size may be too large to be launched from either the hull or from torpedo tubes - such as submarine-launched cruise missiles (SLCM), is also likely.

source: wikipedia (02/24)

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