SEVERODVINSK. July 8 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Shipbuilding Agency Director General Vladimir Pospelov expressed his assurance that the Belgorod nuclear submarine that is being produced by the Sevmashpredpriyatiye shipyard will replace the Kursk submarine in the Russian Navy.
"The sum of RUB2bn (USD63.41m) needed to complete the submarine is not transcendent in the framework of the country," Pospelov told Interfax-Military News Agency. According to him, at present the submarine is completed at 80 percent.
Specialists say that if the means are provided in time the submarine will be completed in two years.
A spokesman for the shipyard told Interfax-Military News Agency that the keel of the Belgorod nuclear submarine of Project 949A (code-named Antei, NATO classification Oscar-2) was laid down in July 1992. The financing of its construction practically stopped three years ago.
The first submarine of Project 949 K-525 was commissioned to the Northern Fleet in December 1980. After the first two vessels of Project 949 the construction of submarines of modernized Project 949A (code-named Antei) started. At present submarines of Project 949 are transferred to the reserve.
The Project 949A submarines grouping together with TU-22M3 Backfire naval missile and long-range aviation planes are at present practically the only weapons to combat attack aircraft carriers.
Submarines of Project 949A have the displacement of 14,700/24,000t, snorting depth of 600 meters and speed up to 33 knots. The submarines' endurance is 120 days, crew comprises 107 people. The vessels are armed with Granit cruise missiles and torpedoes.
The Kursk sank on August 12, 2000 under circumstances that are still unclear. All 118 crewmembers died.