According to foreign publications, these are not ordinary torpedo tubes, but
rather sophisticated launchers from which various weapon systems can be
launched, including cruise missiles equipped with nuclear warheads.

The ultimate tool of warfare
New details regarding the capabilities of the 4th Dolphin submarine that the
Israeli Navy is expected to receive in 2013

Arie Egozi 7/5/2012
http://www.israeldefense.com/?CategoryID=483&ArticleID=1227

The Israeli Navy's new Dolphin submarine is the ultimate tool of warfare.
Forget everything you knew about submarines, most of which is probably from
watching war movies. This is something entirely different. We will not list
all the measures installed onboard the submarine. This is in part because
not all is known to us, and also because parts of it are classified.
However, according to foreign publications, the submarine has two systems
from which one can deduce about its capabilities.

The first system is an advanced and impervious SATCOM satellite
communication system, which gives the military brass the ability to be in
direct, secured contact with the submarine's command at all times. The
second is a system of 650mm torpedo tubes. According to foreign
publications, these are not ordinary torpedo tubes, but rather sophisticated
launchers from which various weapon systems can be launched, including
cruise missiles equipped with nuclear warheads.

Foreign sources can tell that the submarine is capable of launching Rafael's
advanced Popeye Turbo missile. This is a variant of an air-to-surface
missile developed by the company which is no longer used in its original
form. According to the same foreign publications, the US Navy monitored a
test of such a cruise missile from an Israeli submarine in the Indian Ocean.

Take the following imaginary scenario for example – an Israeli navy
submarine is cruising somewhere near Iran. In a moment of religious fervor,
the Ayatollah regime decides to launch a nuclear missile at Israel after the
world has failed in its efforts to halt Iran's nuclear program. The IDF's HQ
in the Kiriya base understands what is happening and decides to launch a
severe counterstrike. A secure satellite communication system enables direct
contact with the submarine commander. He is called to enter a state of
strike readiness. The launch command, however, is not given via verbal
communication - the submarine commander gets that order via special codes
which change randomly. The code is sent, along with the preferred target.
The initial target is a large military facility near Tehran. After several
seconds, a long object emerges from the ocean, rises to a height of several
hundred meters and begins its flight towards the Iranian coast. Iran's radar
systems do not detect the missile as it makes its subsonic way towards the
target.

This is one scenario, but there are many others that the new submarine will
enable. The submarine could, for example, remain underwater for a prolonged
period in the framework of electronic intelligence collection assignments.
There are forms of intelligence collection that necessitate the presence of
the receiving sensor as close as possible to the source of the transmission.
Such a submarine is the instrument that allows for this capability. It can
pick up anything that moves or transmits at a very large range, while
creating a "jamming cloud" that deceives any detection system that the enemy
operates, be it from a ship, air the ground. The purpose of this system is
to prevent the submarine's detection, as it poses a danger given the
vessel's relatively large hull and slow speed.

Once the submarine departs from the German shipyard in the city of Kiel, it
will reach Haifa and will undergo modifications once all the ceremonies are
over. Only then will the special systems developed in Israel - all of which
are classified as "super secret" - be installed onboard it. These are
systems that, according to experts, are found perhaps only in US nuclear
submarines.