Type 209 submarine The Type 209 is a class of diesel - electric attack submarine developed exclusively for export by Howaldtswerke - Deutsche Werft of Germany . The original variant ( Type 209 / 1100 ) was designed in the late 1960s . Despite not being operated by the German Navy , five variants of the class ( 209 / 1100 , 209 / 1200 , 209 / 1300 , 209 / 1400 and 209 / 1500 ) have been successfully exported to 13 countries , with 61 submarines being built and commissioned between 1971 and 2008 . Development . In the early 1970s , many navies began to need replacements for pre - WWII submarines , aging United States GUPPY conversions , and British units transferred postwar . During this time , few western submarine designs were available for export as most were large , expensive , and designed for the Cold War . Several designs originally built for specific nations were available including the French Daphne Class , British Oberon Class , and the Soviet Foxtrot Class submarines . The design , designated by the German Ministry of Defense as the “ Type 209 ” provided a solution with an adequate armament and reasonable price . Design . The submarine was designed by Ingenieur Kontor Lübeck ( IKL ) headed by Ulrich Gabler and is largely based on previous German submarine designs ( in particular the Type 206 ) with increased equipment . The design is single hulled and allows the commanding officer to see the entire submarine from the bow to stern while standing at the periscope . Four 120 - cell batteries are located forward and aft of the command center in the lower deck and make up about 25 % of the boat ' s displacement . Two main ballast tanks with forward and aft trim tanks allow the boat to dive . They are powered by four MTU diesels and four AEG generators . The AEG electric motor is attached directly to a five - or seven - bladed propeller . Armaments . Type 209 submarines are armed with 8 bow 533 mm torpedo tube s and 14 torpedo es . The Type 209 / 1200s used by Greece and South Korea , and the Type 209 / 1400s used by Turkey are also armed with Sub - Harpoon missiles . Ships used by South Korea can be armed with 28 mines in place of torpedoes and Harpoon missiles ; while the Indian ships can carry 24 mines externally . The class can be armed with a variety of torpedo models depending upon the country . The majority of boats carry SUT - Surface and Underwater Target ( Chile , Colombia , Ecuador , Greece , India , Indonesia , South Africa , South Korea ) or the SST - Special Surface Target ( Argentina , Peru , Turkey ' s 209 / 1200s , Venezuela ) torpedoes . The boats can also carry the Mark 24 Tigerfish ( Brazil , Turkey ' s Preveze class 209 / 1400 ) , DM2A4 ( Turkey ' s Gür class 209 / 1400 ) , and Mark 37 ( Argentina ) . Brazil ’ s boats will receive new integrated combat systems from Lockheed Martin to enable use of the Mark 48 torpedo . Successful tests of the new combat system occurred on Tapajó S - 33 in December 2011 . Variants . Five variants of this submarine have been produced : Type 209 / 1100 , Type 209 / 1200 , Type 209 / 1300 , Type 209 / 1400 and Type 209 / 1500 . The " U - 209PN " ordered by the Portuguese Navy is actually a Type 214 . The first three Dolphin class submarine s built for the Israeli Navy are based on the Type 209 although heavily modified and enlarged . Several modifications have occurred in the class resulting in these variants including the fitting of newer diesel engines . New air conditioning and electronics features have been added to accommodate orders from South America . The displacement in some variants has increased by nearly 50 % in order to install new equipment , modernize accommodations , and extend range . The team of Ingenieur Kontor Lübeck ( IKL ) and Howaldtswerke - Deutsche Werft ( HDW ) proposed an enlarged Type 209 submarine , the Type 2000 , for the Collins class submarine program . The proposed design was roughly 500 tons more than the Type 209 / 1500 ' s for India and lost to the Type 471 from Kockums , an enlarged Västergötland class submarine . The Thomson class built for the Chilean Navy has escape hatches fitted in the torpedo and engine room . An additional aft hatch is fitted in the sail with access to the machinery . The boats are fitted with higher masts to compensate for regional ocean wave conditions . The Tikuna class built by the Brazilian navy is a modified Type 209 / 1400 . The boat is 0 . 85 m longer and fitted with higher power diesels , different electric motors , batteries , electronics and sensors . The Shishumar class built for and by India is unique for having an IKL - designed integrated escape sphere . The sphere has accommodations for the entire crew with an eight hour air supply . The Sabalo class built for Venezuela was slightly lengthened during a modernization at HDW in the early 1990s . The increased length is due to the addition of a new sonar dome that is similar to the model found on the German Type 206 . Between 2004 and 2006 , the Indonesian Type 209 / 1300 submarine Cakra underwent a refurbishment by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering in South Korea . The refurbished submarine featured new batteries , overhauled engines , and modernized combat system . Both submarines ' existing STN Atlas - Elektronik CSU 3 - 2 sonar suite were replaced with L - 3 ELAC Nautik ' s LOPAS 8300 passive sonar system and Kongsberg MSI - 90U MK2 CMS . In 2009 , Daewoo won another order to refurbish Nanggala , which was completed in early 2012 . It is also possible to upgrade these submarines with the latest Air - independent propulsion ( AIP ) systems . The first ships to receive this upgrade were to be three ships of the Greek Poseidon class Type 209 / 1200 under the Neptune II upgrade program . They were to be upgraded by cutting the boat in half aft of the control room and adding a 6 m plug with an 120 kW Siemens AIP system to the ship . The program was canceled in 2009 due to cancellation of the Archimedes Project ( Type 214 ) , but not before Okeanos ( S118 ) completed the upgrade . After the Archimedes Project settlement was reached , it was decided that instead of upgrading the remaining two Type 209s , two additional Type 214 ships were to be ordered , but that deal was cancelled by Howaldtswerke - Deutsche Werft . " Chang Bogo " upgrades / variant . The South Korean " Chang Bogo " - class submarines ( Hangul : 장보고급 잠수함 , Hanja : 張保皐級潛水艦 ) have reportedly been heavily upgraded in the 21st century , which if undertaken was supposed to include domestic hull stretch augmentation from 1 , 200 tons to 1 , 400 tons and installment of domestically developed Torpedo Acoustic Counter Measures ( TACM ) . Some upgrades could have been affected or altered due to Korean economic problems of the late 1990s , which modified other plans to acquire nine 1 , 500 - ton AIP - equipped boats or upgrade six 1200 boats to 1 , 500 - tons AIP - equipped boats , although the more ambitious plan to acquire nine 1 , 800 - ton Type 214 AIP submarines was preserved and put under progress , not unaided by the quick recovery of the South Korean economy in 1999 , which will reportedly be wrapped up in 2018 when all submarines of the type are scheduled to be commissioned . LIG Nex1 began producing TACM for unspecified submarine types of the ROKN as well , which finished development in 2000 . Outfitting of the submarines with Sub - Harpoon launching capability was a part of the upgrade , and seems to have been carried out on several submarines by 2008 . They can equip the White Shark heavy torpedo , and can possibly equip submarine - launched Hae Sung anti - ship missiles later on . AIP and flank - array sonars are planned for future modernizations . In December 2011 , Daewoo won a contract to build Indonesia three 1 , 400 - ton " Chang Bogo " - class submarines for $ 1 . 07 billion . Construction of the submarines will start in January 2012 for delivery by 2015 and 2016 , for commissioning in the first half of 2018 . They ' ll be equipped with torpedoes and guided missiles . The submarines are described to be Korea ' s original model , bigger and more advanced than Indonesia ' s refurbished Type 209 / 1300 . Initially the offered submarines were going to be in - service ROKN submarines . The sale will be done without the involvement of German companies . South Korea is currently the only country outside of Germany independently offering the Type 209 for sale . Indonesia was also offered two license built Type 209 submarines manufactured by a group of Turkish ( SSM - Undersecretariat for Defense Industries ) and German companies ( HDW / ThyssenKrupp ) , a deal reported to be valued at $ 1 billion . SSM was also offering the leases of Type 209 submarines until new submarines could be completed . The offer has since been superseded by the DSME submarine contract . The three new submarines would be equipped with the Kongsberg MSI - 90U MK2 combat systems , Indra ' s Pegaso RESM system and Aries - S LPI radar . Service . Countries operating the Type 209 include Argentina , Brazil , Chile , Colombia , Ecuador , Greece , India , Indonesia , Peru , South Africa , South Korea , Turkey and Venezuela . All Type 209s remain in service except for ARA San Luis ( S - 32 ) which was stricken in 1997 after an incomplete overhaul and Glavkos S - 110 decommissioned in 2011 . Iran had an order for six Type - 209 submarines that was cancelled by Khomeini in 1979 . The first user was the Hellenic Navy which purchased four Type 209 / 1100 and four Type 209 / 1200 submarines . The largest operator of the Type 209 is the Turkish Navy which operates six Type 209 / 1200 submarines ( commissioned between 1976 and 1989 ) and eight Type 209 / 1400 submarines ( commissioned between 1994 and 2007 ) . At present , the Turkish Navy is also the largest operator of German designed submarines in the world . Three new Type 209 / 1400 submarines were delivered to South Africa in 2006 , costing $ 285 million each . Type 209s are often supplemented with other submarine designs or are scheduled to be replaced by them . Argentina received two TR - 1700 class submarine s ( " Santa Cruz " class ) during the 1980s . Ten Kilo class submarine s were purchased by India in the 1980s and 90s ( Sindhughosh class submarine ) , along with Akula class submarine INS Chakra in 2011 . Two Scorpène class submarine s have been commissioned by Chile , while Brazil has four and India has six ships ordered or under construction . Nine Type 214 submarines ( Son Won - il class ) are commissioned , building , or planned by South Korea to supplement its force , while Greece is replacing its aging Glaukos class with four Type 214 submarines ( Papanikolis class ) , and Turkey will be replacing early Atılay class ships with six Type 214 submarines . During the Falklands War the Argentinian Type 209 / 1200 submarine " San Luis " Performed a war patrol . While on their way to the area assigned the fire control computer went out of order . The vessel continued on to the combat area , and managed to fire at least 3 wire guided SST4 mod0 torpedoes at the British fleet . The torpedoes suffered from various issues , with the guide wire cut a minute after launch and the torpedoes going off the assigned course . After war testing revealed that the torpedoes electric gyroscopes had reversed polarity , which resulted in a complete refit of the entire Argentinean torpedo stock , and a conversion of a portion of this stock from Mod0 to Mod1 , performed by the firm which produced these weapons ( AEG ) . Beside the torpedo issue , " San Luis " patrolled mostly undetected . On 31 August 2012 , the Egyptian navy commander General Osama Ahmed stated that a contract has been signed with the German side to build two type 209 submarines for the Egyptian navy including the latest technology this type has reached . The first vessel is scheduled to be delivered in 2016 . Egypt is planning to exercise an option of the contract for another two type 209 submarines .