The revival of nuclear submarines (NPS) of the Russian Navy is a “serious problem” for the United States and its allies, reports The Diplomat.
According to the American publication, after the collapse of the USSR, the number and quality of nuclear submarines in the Russian Navy began to decrease, but this trend ended in 2000. “After a sharp decline in the 1990s, defense spending has increased since 2000, following the rise to power of Vladimir Putin and a sharp rise in oil prices,” the publication says.
In particular, according to the publication, “[Russia’s] defense budget peaked at $ 90 billion in 2015 and stabilized at $ 65 billion in 2019.
The publication claims that Russia is reducing the production time for modern nuclear submarines, for the production of which, in particular, it uses the most innovative developments, work on which began in the last years of the existence of the Soviet Union. “Modern Russian military equipment is more modern and technologically more advanced than it was in the 1990s and 2000s,” the newspaper writes.
Among the newest nuclear submarines, the publication mentions submarines of projects 885 (“Ash”) and 955 (“Borey”), equipped with modern missile weapons. In particular, the former receive Kalibr cruise missiles, the latter receive R-30 Bulava-30 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). The publication also reminds that the special purpose nuclear submarines “Khabarovsk” (project 09851) and “Belgorod” (project 09852) will carry nuclear torpedoes “Poseidon”.
The Diplomat concludes that in a number of areas, the Russian Navy is at the same level or ahead of Western rivals. “It is important to note that despite these positive developments and achievements, Russia lacks the ability to project power on a global scale and remains far behind the United States in anti-submarine warfare, surface ships, transport aircraft and automated control systems,” the newspaper writes.
In February, the General Director of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) Alexei Rakhmanov called the Project 22350 Admiral Shaposhnikov frigate the most unusual ship that the company headed by him has built in recent years.
In January, the newspaper “Military Industrial Courier” wrote that at present, if you focus not on the payroll, but “on what can really be thrown into battle, obviously – on the available serviceable and combat-ready surface ships” of the Russian Navy “dropped to the level of about South Korea.”