Russian Navy to receive several new submarines in 2020.

Russia’s Navy is planning to receive several new underwater combatants, the military service’s Commander-in-Chief Admiral Nikolay Yevmenov told the newspaper Red Star (Krasnaya Zvezda) on March 18, 2020.

Russian Navy Project 971 submarine (Picture source Russia MoD)

“We are waiting for the delivery of the repaired Project 971 [NATO reporting name: Akula II-class] nuclear-powered attack submarine [SSGN] Vepr in April 2020. The [actual] approach [to repair] results in the doubling of the service life of the Project 971 and Project 949 [Oscar-II-class] SSGNs. The Project 667BDRM [Delta-IV] nuclear-powered ballistic missile-armed [SSBN] submarines are also being repaired,” said Yevmenov.

The Russian Navy is planning to receive the Project 955A (Borei-A-class) SSBNs ‘Knyaz Vladimir’ and ‘Knyaz Oleg’ and the Project 885M (Yasen-M-class) SSGNs ‘Kazan’ and ‘Novosibirsk’ this year, said Yevmenov. “Nuclear-powered submarines of the fifth generation are now being developed. They will have even better performance,” said Yevmenov.

A series of Project 636.3 (Improved Kilo-class) diesel-electric submarines is now being built for the Pacific Fleet. “The first underwater combatant [for the Pacific Fleet], ‘Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy’, was delivered to the Navy in November 2019. Two more [Project 636.3] submarines, ‘Magadan’ and ‘Ufa’, are now being built; their construction is planned to be finished in 2022,” said Yevmenov.

According to him, the Project 636.3 diesel-electric submarine ‘Volkhov’ is now passing through its mooring tests. “In accordance with our plans, the Navy will receive the [‘Volkhov’] underwater combatant this year,” said Yevmenov.