MOSCOW. July 22 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Kuroyedov has set the date for laying down the gull of the second Project 677 Lada submarine, Rear Admiral Anatoly Shlemov, head of the Defense Ministry's ship, naval armament and military hardware procurement and supply department, said on Friday.
"The first mass-production diesel-electric submarine of Project 677 Lada will be laid down on July 28. The lay-down is timed to Navy Day," Shlemov told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The submarine will be named Kronshtadt.
Shlemov earlier told Interfax-AVN, "According to the calculations of naval institutes and judging from the missions facing the Navy, we will need at least 50 such subs".
He emphasized that diesel submarines are required at all the four fleets, but especially at the Baltic and the Black Sea ones, where nuclear powered subs cannot be operated.
"Fifty submarines will do to fulfil the missions, but it is unlikely that there will be money for them. However, Lada will be commissioned for service with the Russian Navy massively anyway," Shlemov said.
According to him, the change of generations is currently underway, which is a natural process when Project 677 subs are replacing Project 877 Varshavyanka, or Kilo in NATO classification, submarines in service.
The Project 677 Sankt Peterburg submarine is the first one of Project 677. It is taking tests and will enter the Russian Navy's inventory in 2006.
The Sankt Peterburg came in the jigs of the Admiralteiskiye Verfi shipyard in December 1997. It is the first of the Project 677 Lada series (Amur-1650 in export version).
The submarine displaces 1,765 tonnes, has a length of 67 m, width of 7.1 m, underwater speed of 21 knots, surface speed of 10 knots, max submersion depth of 300 m and endurance of 45 days.
The submarine is armed with 533-mm torpedoes in six launchers.
The propelling engine gives power of 4,100 kW.
The sub features cutting edge hydroacoustic coating that ensures its superb concealment. It is also equipped with advanced target detection and acquisition systems to guide torpedoes and anti-ship missiles to the targets effectively throughout the whole max range. Also, effective physical protection assets are installed.
The sub was launched at sea in October 2004 and shown to broad public at the recent IMDS 2005 international naval show in St. Petersburg.