TEL AVIV, Israel, July 28 (UPI) -- Israeli military officials rebuffed reports of a pending deal with Germany over the purchase of a new submarine.
A statement by Israel's defense ministry also rejected allegations by Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung that the potential deal included a request by Israel for financial aid from Germany for the deal.
"Following press reports, we wish to clarify that there are no negotiations with Germany for the purchase by Israel of an additional submarine," the defense ministry statement said.
"The question of a discount (by Germany) for such an acquisition is therefore not relevant."
Earlier, the Washington-based Defense News reported that Germany and Israel were in long-running negotiations for the purchase of a new submarine, the sixth for Israel's fleet, as well as two new Meko-class missile ships.
The submarine in question concerns a Dolphin-class vessel for which Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had ruled out financial assistance to Israel because of budgetary constraints.
The report sparked a similar rebuttal from Berlin, which rarely comments on defense deals.
German government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said that while there had been a telephone call placed by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to Merkel in recent days, the conversation focused on efforts relating to Middle East peace talks.
He said there were "no concrete negotiations between Israel and Germany about a sixth submarine," but Wilhelm refused to clarify whether there informal talks and whether the potential submarine purchase was mentioned during the telephone call between Netanyahu and Merkel.
The World Tribune news Web site reported that Israel was seeking a 33 percent discount as part of plans to develop a sea-based second-strike capability against Iran.
Military experts say Germany's snub may force Israel to reconsider an earlier option concerning the purchase of a littoral combat ship, which is under development in the United States. It may also opt to develop the submarine domestically.
Israel has either purchased or ordered five Dolphin-class submarines, a variant of the Type-209 underwater vessel produced by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft, a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp. Three are in operation with the remaining two scheduled for delivery by 2012.
Each submarine is estimated to cost $600 million-$700 million and they are capable of firing nuclear missiles.
Like several governments in the European Union, Germany has strongly criticized Israel's naval blockade of Gaza. The would-be submarine sale has drawn criticism because of the nuclear weapons capability.
