ST. PETERSBURG. April 11 (Interfax-AVN) - The Sevmashpredpriyatiye enterprise from Rybinsk, the Arkhangelsk region, starts the preparation to release the diesel electric submarine for the Chinese Navy from its workshops.
"A crew from the Russian Northern Fleet will come to Severodvinsk later in April, as the personnel of the fleet have wealth of experience in operating diesel electric subs. They will hold tests of the new submarine," a source in the Russian defense industry told Interfax-Military News Agency Monday.
According to him, a crew of the factory is also getting ready for the tests.
There are now two submarines under construction for China in jigs of Workshop 50 of the enterprise. The first one, Order 701, will be released in May. The assembly started in May 2003. "The importance of the order and the limited terms required the mobilization of all resources from the side of the personnel at all the elements of the enterprise," he stressed.
He added that the leaders of the enterprise pay special attention to the contract.
He recalled that the latest diesel submarine was released from the jigs of the enterprise in early 1960s, with nuclear propulsion subs turning the priority. "However, the fact that non-nuclear propulsion returns does not mean that the industry turns back, but on the contrary signifies the dawn of the new era," he added.
"The enterprise is building state-of-the-art Russian submarines in accordance with the country's military and technical cooperation plans. These are futher derivatives of the well-known Varshavyankas. The designers managed to improve the performance of the subs significantly without changing the hull," he said.
These submarines are an export modification of the third-generation Project 877 Varshavyanka type, Kilo in NATO classification, developed by the St. Petersburg-based Rubin.
According to experts, the main advantage of the submarines is the reserve for upgrade which will allow introduction of new weapons and equipment in future. Improvement of combat effectiveness of the subs to be superior to foreign similarities is the priority approach of modernization efforts.
With this in mind, the subs feature a modern set of cruising missiles which considerably improve their capability against enemy, as well as a new inertial navigation system with extended time of information storing that feeds required data to the missile launchers when the sub is submerged, and a new automated management system with missile control subsystem, target designation system and missile and torpedo control equipment.
The subs have the length of 72.6 m, width of 9.9 m, displacement of 2,300 cubic meters, cruising range of 6,000 miles, submergence depth of 300 m, immersion of 6.2 m and speed of 17-20 knots.
The Project 877EKM submarine was developed to counter submarines and surface ships, to protect naval bases, coastal and sea communication lines, as well as to conduct reconnaissance and patrol operations in waters of the enemy.