At The Edge
Via Ed Morrisey at Captain's Quarters comes this particular tidbit of information. Israel is buying two more submarines capable of launching nuclear missiles.
WITH Iran confidently defying pressure to curb its nuclear programme, Israel has signed a contract with Germany to buy two more submarines capable of firing nuclear missiles, it emerged yesterday.
Israeli security sources said the submarines are needed to counter long-range threats from countries such as Iran, whose president has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map".
Israel has been expanding its military in the light of Iran's nuclear ambitions. It already has three Dolphin-class submarines which can fire nuclear missiles, but the newer models can remain submerged far longer.
The deal was signed last month and the submarines will be operational shortly, the Jerusalem Post reported. Germany has agreed to take on the costs of up to a third of the value of the 1 billion deal.
Israel, which has never officially admitted possessing atomic weapons, has an estimated 60-85 nuclear warheads, according to the United States Defence Intelligence Agency.
The country's military planners have a clear preference for submarine-launched nuclear weaponry. Given Israel's small land area, launch sites for missiles would be easy to detect and therefore possible to destroy. Submarine-based missiles give the country a more credible deterrent.
Some details on the Dolphin class submarines are here and here. Iran may have a bit more to contend with than they think. This is getting pretty ugly right now.
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Flopping Aces » Blog Archive » The Iranian Surprise — August 24, 2006 @ 12:49 pm
By dpaulin, August 24, 2006 @ 7:09 am
There’s a dubious statement here, and that is that “submarine-based missiles” would give Israel “a more credible deterrent.” This would indeed be the case if rational players were involved, such as the U.S and Russia during the Cold War. Iran, however, is not a rational player. Accordingly, this leaves only one really credible option: preemption.
Incidentally, several months ago Editor & Publisher’s Greg Mitchell had urged in one of his nutty columns — as I noted in “Iran’s Got Nukes. What me Worry?” — that the press should marshall public opinion to stop any military action against Iran. He also spoke about learning to “live” with an Iranian bomb. Maybe Israel also should figure out how to deal with Greg as part of its deterrence strategy.