MOSCOW. May 11 (Interfax) - The construction of a series of eight multipurpose nuclear submarines under the Yasen-M project is going to schedule; these will be the most dangerous and elusive submarines, Sevmash's General Director Mikhail Budnichenko said.
"Our plant has a big prospect, workload is assured until 2030. We will continue building these two groups of nuclear submarines, the Yasen-M and Borei-A projects. As regards the series of multipurpose cruiser submarines, the construction of this project's eight nuclear submarines is going according to the approved schedules of the Defense Ministry," Budnichenko said in an interview with the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper.
The Yasen-M project's head submarine Kazan joined the Navy on May 7.
"The Kazan is a dangerous hunter which can be used in various combat missions. The Yasen-M submarines are the future of our submarine fleet. They have completely new qualities: they have improved tactical-technical characteristics and reflect the latest developments in the optimization of physical fields, weapon-control systems, maneuvering properties. These are the 21st century ships. Once in service, they will be the most elusive and dangerous nuclear submarines. And the Russian Navy will have not one, but a whole series of such ships," Budnichenko said.
As regards the Yasen-M submarines, "this project incorporates a number of entirely new promising solutions. For example, the use of a noise-absorbing rubber coating. It is made of a new composition, which reduces the level of underwater visibility and thus the likelihood of being spotted by an adversary," Budnichenko said.
"The Novosibirsk, Yasen-M's first serial submarine, is undergoing mooring tests. It slid down the slipways at the end of 2019. Two more submarines, Vladivostok and Voronezh, were laid down at Sevmash in July last year," he said.
Last December Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko said that the Navy would be reinforced with 14 strategic and multipurpose nuclear submarines over the next few years, with Sevmash expected to deliver one Borei-A submarine and one Yasen-M submarine per year.
The Yasen-M Project submarines are armed with Oniks and/or Kalibr cruise missiles and there are also plans to arm them with Zircon hypersonic missiles (a new Russian hypersonic missile, currently undergoing tests, JSC Tactical Missiles Corporation).
The fourth-generation nuclear cruiser submarines of the Borei series and its upgraded version Borei-A, armed with the Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile, would become the basis of the naval strategic nuclear forces in the coming decades, the Russian military said.
Borei-A's head submarine Knyaz Vladimir entered service in the Navy on June 12 last year.
Sevmash (based in Severodvinsk) is one of Russia's biggest shipyards, which builds nuclear submarines and repairs large surface ships. It is part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation.