Above artwork depicts INS Drakon's possible fit-out, 6 single vertical launch missile tubes each able to launch a c.640mm Popeye Turbo nuclear missile. In contrast my money is on one Vertical Multi-Purpose Lock (VMPL). A VMPL could permit Drakon to carry larger diameter missiles in future eg. hypersonic missiles or small ballistic missiles. Click here to enable image expansion. (Courtesy H I Sutton via NavalNews )
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It is suspected the last of the Dolphin 2 class, INS Drakon, has had an extended 6 year fit-out period in Israel (since launch in Germany in 2017) to install a vertical launch system (VLS). If Israel is smart its VLS may be in the form of a Vertical Multi-Purpose Lock (VMPL) the same concept as the Virginia Payload Tube (VPT) within a Virginia Payload Module. A VMPL may have been envisaged by TKMS for the not fully designed Type 216 offered to Australia (see at base of SubMatts' 2015 article).
A VMPL (unlike single launch tubes) would permit Drakon, and the follow on Dakar-class Dolphin 3s to vertically launch significantly larger diameter missiles than c.640mm Popeye Turbos, standard 520mm Israeli Tomahawk clones (if they exist) or 500mm MdCNs.
Assumed to be nuclear armed larger future missiles might include hypersonic missiles (eg. cold launch then rocket then scramjet propelled), or small ballistic missiles.
Israel's quasi-ballistic Long Range Attack (LORA) missile looks ripe for enlargement from its current 624mm diameter, 5.2m length, 570kg warhead and 400km range.
Doing the math: If the Drakon fits a standard a Virginia Payload Tube (VPT) with its standard inner diameter of 87 inch = 2.2m needs to be shortened to 8.0m in height to fit into a slightly humped hull. Then 2.2m can accommodate 3 x 1.0m tubes. To hit Tehran from the eastern Mediterranean might require a 1,800km range. The enlarged LORA SLBM might then be 950mm in diameter, with an extra 2.5m stage, lighter stage casings and a more powerful rocket propellant.