Israel reached an agreement today to purchase three submarines from German ship builder ThyssenKrupp. The megadeal will see the first upgraded diesel-electric submarine out of the three purchased constructed and delivered to the Israeli navy within nine years. The purchase agreement was inked at the Defense Ministry's Tel Aviv headquarters by director Amir Eshel and by ThyssenKrupp CEO Rolf Wirtz, in the presence of Israeli naval commander David Salama.

Reports say the three submarines would cost more than double their original price, for a total of 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion). The German government will fund 540 million euros in the deal, with a special grant via an agreement signed between the two countries back in 2017. Israeli politicians criticized the rise in price, which was apparently not reported ahead of the signing to the government nor to the Knesset. Still, experts explained that the rise in price reflects the change of product, with Israel now purchasing much more advanced models.

A parallel industrial strategic cooperation agreement signed between Israel’s Economy and Industry Ministry and ThyssenKrupp calls for reciprocal purchases by the German company and by its subsidiaries and suppliers of Israeli products, mainly security equipment, worth over 850 million euros, to be purchased over a period of 20 years.

The new submarines will form a new class called Dakar, in honor of the Israeli submarine that mysteriously disappeared in 1968 en route from the United Kingdom to Israel with 69 crew members on board. These new vessels are essentially an upgraded version of the Dolphin-class diesel-electric model (also purchased from ThyssenKrupp) that the Israeli navy has been using these past few years. The new contract also includes the construction of a training simulator in Israel and the supply of spare parts.