An Israeli naval submarine docks at Haifa port in this July 27, 1999 file photo.(REUTERS/Havakuk Levison)
From Information Dissemination:
Robert Farley, over at Lawyers, Guns and Money (go Zevon!) comments on a post by Peter Juul at Wonkroom regarding Israel and U.S. nuclear guarantees. Farley agrees that Israel has a diverse nuclear weapons infrastructure, but says Israel's sea based leg is deficient, compared with U.S., U.K and French boats, consisting as it does (or probably does) of cruise missile arms aboard the Israeli Navy's three Dolphin class SSKs. I would point out that Israel is not attempting to defer an adversary anywhere near the capability of the U.S.S.R., which is what the other three forces were aimed at, so the size and weapons load of its deterrent aren't as important. He identifies their opponent as Iran, which is sensible, and does admit that few weapons are required to credibly threaten states the size of Iran and Israel.
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