Israel exports first autonomous submarine to Germany amid expanding defense partnership
Israel Aerospace Industries’ BlueWhale can conduct weeks-long intelligence operations without human crews.
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has delivered an unmanned submarine to the German Navy, developed as part of a joint project with ThyssenKrupp, the manufacturer of submarines used by the Israeli Navy. As far as is known, this is IAI’s first deal in the field of unmanned submarines. The defense company has not disclosed the financial scope of the agreement or the number of vessels to be delivered.
The underwater vessel, called BlueWhale, is designed to operate autonomously. Its development was led by IAI’s subsidiary Elta, and it integrates systems developed across multiple IAI divisions, positioning it as an advanced solution for covert naval missions.
According to IAI, the unmanned submarine is capable of collecting real-time intelligence in naval combat environments, monitoring activity both above and below the water, detecting submarines and underwater targets, identifying naval mines, and more. The company added that the vessel can carry out missions lasting several weeks, operations that previously required manned submarines. It is also equipped with a towed anti-submarine warfare sonar developed by ThyssenKrupp’s marine technology division, Atlas Elektronik.
Although IAI has not disclosed the value of the deal with Germany, defense sources estimate that the price of a single unmanned submarine could reach tens of millions of dollars. By comparison, an advanced manned submarine manufactured by ThyssenKrupp is estimated to cost about $800 million. Within the next four years, ThyssenKrupp is expected to begin delivering three new submarines to the Israeli Navy, which will join the Dakar-class submarines ordered in 2022.
In recent years, ThyssenKrupp has supplied Dolphin-class submarines and naval vessels to Israel as part of a procurement program that later became the subject of the so-called “submarine affair,” which exposed alleged corruption involving senior officials and public servants. The matter is still under investigation by a state commission of inquiry headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Asher Grunis. Last month, the commission published an interim report pointing to significant failures in decision-making processes related to defense procurement.
IAI CEO Boaz Levy told Calcalist that the delivery followed an extensive series of trials conducted in the Baltic Sea, where the vessel’s advanced technologies were tested. “The delivery of the BlueWhale to Germany emphasizes the maturity of the solution we developed and the strength of the cooperation and high level of trust between the State of Israel and Germany,” Levy said. “We share a common mission: protecting the lives of soldiers and civilians in Israel, Germany, and across Europe.”
Elta CEO Dror Bar said the company contributed years of expertise in sensing, signal processing, and artificial intelligence systems to the project, enabling continuous, high-quality intelligence gathering. Michael Ozegowski, CEO of Atlas Elektronik, said the partnership with IAI would help accelerate the integration of autonomous systems into Germany’s naval operations as part of the German Navy’s Marine 2035 and Beyond modernization program.
The relationship between IAI and the German military and Ministry of Defense has deepened in recent years, driven in part by major air defense agreements. In December, Germany signed a contract worth approximately $3.1 billion to acquire Israel’s Arrow 3 missile defense system. This followed an earlier agreement signed in late 2023 for Arrow 3 systems valued at about $3.5 billion. These agreements represent the largest defense export deal in Israeli history and the first export of the Arrow system. Germany is also acquiring Heron-type unmanned aerial vehicles from IAI.
IAI’s submarine cooperation with ThyssenKrupp comes alongside a separate agreement involving Elbit Systems. Recently, Elbit announced that its subsidiary Cyclone would establish a joint production line in Israel with ThyssenKrupp to manufacture assemblies and structural components for submarines.
