JERUSALEM — Israel signed a 3 billion euro ($3.4 billion) deal Thursday to purchase three state-of-the-art submarines from Germany, the Defense Ministry announced.
The Dakar-class diesel-electric submarines will be produced by German manufacturer Thyssenkrupp and are expected to be delivered within nine years, it added.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said the pact “will enhance the capabilities of the Israeli Navy, and contribute to Israel’s security superiority in the region. The German government will bear part of the cost of the vessels, the ministry said.
Israeli and German officials signed the agreement days before the Israeli government votes on forming a government committee to investigate Thyssenkrupp’s purchase of submarines and other warships between 2009 and 2016, with Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister.
The new submarines are not directly related to that scandal, known as Case 3000.
Several Israeli businessmen, including Netanyahu confidants and a former navy commander, are suspected in a bribery scandal surrounding the purchase of naval weapons from Thyssenkrupp. The former prime minister was not named as a suspect in that case, but is on trial in three other corruption cases.