The Israeli Navy plans to multiply its naval fleet in the coming years to contend with a maritime arms race in the region and new threats at sea, The Times of Israel learned on Wednesday.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir announced in March 2025 that the relatively modest-sized Israeli Navy would become a “long-range strategic arm [of the military], with defensive and offensive capabilities.”

On Thursday, the Israeli Navy is set to recieve its sixth submarine, INS “Drakon” — or Dragon — following a 3,792-nautical mile (around 8,000 km) voyage of nearly a month from Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems’ shipyard in Kiel, Germany, and after around 12 years of planning, construction, and testing.

Navy officials said that the delivery of the INS Drakon was delayed by several months because Denmark and Norway prevented German contractor TKMS from conducting tests of the submarine in their deep waters. Instead, TKMS had to take INS Drakon further out into the North Sea, in international waters, to conduct the tests during its construction.

The move by Denmark and Norway also threatens to delay future projects by TKMS of naval vessels for Israel, the officials said.

On Thursday, the Navy will hold a ceremony at the Haifa Naval Base to receive the Dolphin 2-class submarine, coming in at 74 meters long and weighing a whopping 2,600 tons — the largest and heaviest submarine yet in Israel’s service.

The military has said that INS Drakon is to be equipped with “innovative and advanced technologies that place Israel at the forefront of global military technology and will........

© The Times of Israel