BERLIN, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Israeli and German officials discussed military deals at a bilateral Cabinet meeting in Berlin, with a controversial sub order likely topping the agenda.
Israel has already ordered five submarines of the Dolphin class and is now looking to buy a sixth vessel for an estimated $700 million. Germany has helped fund all previous deals and Tel Aviv hopes that it will do so again.
For the historic bilateral Cabinet session Tuesday in Berlin, it was fitting that Defense Minister Ehud Barak arrived in the German capital even before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to sit down with his German counterpart Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg.
While officials did not comment directly on the Dolphin deal, experts are sure that it was discussed.
Ottfried Nassauer, director of the Berlin Information Center for trans-Atlantic Security, criticized the negotiations and previous sales, because the vessels could be used to identify targets in the Gaza Strip or armed with nuclear warheads.
"From what I know the German government does not want to fund the order with taxpayers' money again," Nassauer earlier this month told the foreign press corps in Berlin.
The expert added, however, that Israel might try to lure Berlin into the deal with a promise to order MEKO stealth corvettes from the Blohm und Voss shipyard in Hamburg. The German shipbuilding industry took a heavy hit from the global downturn and is in desperate need of orders.
Merkel Tuesday left all options on the table: When asked about further arms exports into the volatile Middle East, the chancellor replied that Germany's commitment to secure Israel's right to exist meant that "armament cooperation to safeguard Israel's future" could not be ruled out.
It would be a continuation of a long tradition.
Berlin has helped Israel pay for five previously ordered submarines.
The first two were a gift by Germany after it surfaced that German companies were involved with Iraq's chemical weapons program. Berlin paid for the first two subs with tax money and subsidized half of the third model.
When Israel decided to order two more subs, Berlin chipped in a third of those costs as well. Those two submarines -- No. 4 and No. 5 -- are currently under construction at the Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft shipyard in Kiel. Their delivery to Israel is scheduled for 2012. The vessels are upgraded versions of the original Dolphin and feature an air-independent propulsion system.
Israel now wants a sixth war sub, the financing of which is still up in the air.
The Dolphin-class submarines are among the most sophisticated and capable conventional submarines in the world. The 190-foot non-nuclear sub is based on the German 209 class but is larger and more heavily armed.
The subs can fire torpedoes, anti-ship missiles and mines.
The vessels are also believed to be capable of launching cruise missiles with a range of up to 930 miles that could be armed with nuclear warheads. A Dolphin-class submarine in a recent military exercise entered the Suez Canal together with an Egyptian escort, in a move that was widely interpreted as a warning to Iran.
HDW, owned by ThyssenKrupp and based in Kiel, is the largest shipyard in Germany. It has more than 2,400 employees.
