MOSCOW. Jan 12 (Interfax) - The Russian Defense Ministry and Sevmash have signed a contract to build two Borei-A strategic nuclear-powered submarines, the shipyard's general director Mikhail Budnichenko said.
"In July, a contract was concluded with the Russian Defense Ministry for the construction of two more serial nuclear submarines of the Borei-A project, which will be named Dmitry Donskoi and Knyaz Potyomkin," Budnichenko said in an interview with the Zavod (Plant) corporate journal.
One Borei-A submarine, the Knyaz Oleg, which left the slipway in the summer, was now undergoing final touches and being tested by the plant; four others were in various stages of completion, he said.
The submarines are of the fourth-generation nuclear-powered type. They are armed with the Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile. Unlike the early Borei submarines - Yury Dolgoruky, Alexander Nevsky and Vladimir Monomakh - these are less noisy and have improved maneuvering, depth-keeping and weapon-control systems.