Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military aims to bring two new nuclear submarines online in 2017.
Moscow plans to reap the benefits of a $41 billion defense budget in 2016 by launching its Project 955A Borei II-class and the nuclear-powered multipurpose attack submarine Project 855 Yasen-class.
The announcement was made by Russian Navy Deputy Commander-in-Chief Vice-Admiral Viktor Bursuk to the state-run TASS News Agency.
“In 2017, the first improved Project 955-A submarine and the Yasen-M will be floated out,” the officer said, The Diplomat reported Tuesday.
The news is likely to please Mr. Putin, whose nation already boasts the third-largest air force in the world and a new crop of intercontinental ballistic missiles engineered to counter U.S. missile defense systems.
“The Russian Navy expects delivery of the new subs ’within the time limits stipulated by the contract.’ Russia plans to operate a total of eight Borei-class boomers — three Borei-class and five improved Borei II-class SSBNs — by the 2020s,” the magazine reported.
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The Project 885-M Yasen M-class Kazan is reportedly one of the “quietest subs ever to be commissioned into the Russian Navy,” the Diplomat reported.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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