MOSCOW. Oct 25 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Vladimir Masorin has told Interfax-AVN that the first in a series of strategic submarines will be commissioned in two years.
"In 2008 the latest strategic submarine Yury Dolgoruky will join the Navy. At the end of 2006 the industry will prepare the vessel for the entire cycle of trials and tests," he said.
According to Masorin, the submarine's completion will mark the end of celebrations of the Russian submarine forces' 100th anniversary in 2006.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said during Wednesday's televised question and answer session that new strategic nuclear submarines will join the Russian fleet in the near future.
"We will put the new nuclear submarines Vladimir Monomakh and Yury Dolgoruky and a number of other facilities into operation in the near future. We have a program for the construction of naval vessels valid until 2030. It reflects all the needs of the Russian Navy. I have no doubt that this program will be put into effect," he said.
The keel of the Yury Dolgoruky (Borei class) was laid on November 2, 1996. The project was developed at the Rubin central naval design bureau under designer Sergei Kovalev. He is also the developer of the Typhoon subs.
The Borei series is expected to replace Typhoons and Deltas in service in the long run.
Currently the Sevmashpredpriyatiye shipyard is building two more subs of the type - the Alexander Nevsky and the Vladimir Monomakh.
According to open sources, the sub displaces 14,720/24,000 tonnes of water. It has a length of 170m, width of 13.5m, max submergence of 450m, underwater speed of 29 knots (compared with 25 knots of Typhoon (Project 941) subs, and 23 knots of Project 667 BDRM ones), endurance of 100 days, and crew of 107 (against Typhoon's 120 and BDRM's 130).
The submarine is going to carry the D-9M missile system (firing 12 solid-propellant Bulava-M ballistic missiles with the total of 120 warheads) developed by the Moscow institute of heat engineering, and torpedo and SAM launchers for self-defense. Since December 2003 the missiles have been tested at the Dmitry Donskoi (Project 941U) sub refurbished for the purpose at Sevmashpredpriyatiye.