Kazan nuclear submarine: The new main weapon of the Russian Navy

The Kazan nuclear submarine possesses a powerful weapon system that can attack a variety of targets at sea and on the ground, becoming a powerful main weapon of combat on all oceans of the Russian Navy.
The Russian Navy on May 7 added the latest Kazan nuclear submarine of Project 885M (Yasen class) into service. Speaking at the reception ceremony, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy Nikolai Yevmenov said that the Kazan nuclear submarine has a powerful weapon system, which allows it to carry out missions in all the world’s oceans. The ship’s arsenal includes 533mm torpedoes, Caliber and Onyx cruise missiles, and modern hydroacoustic and electronic equipment. Submarines are designed to attack a wide range of land and sea targets.

According to experts, Kazan is a fully domestically built submarine and is superior to foreign nuclear-powered ships in terms of technical characteristics. In the future, submarines can receive the modern Zircon hypersonic missile complex. Technically completely new project In recent years, the Kazan nuclear submarine has passed tests in the White Sea, and achieved the published technical indicators. In particular, the crew conducted submarine warfare tests at positions on the water surface and underwater, measured technical parameters, in which the noise level when moving underwater and the attack weapon system. . The Kazan nuclear submarine officially entered service with the Russian Navy. The Kazan nuclear submarine was built in 2009, but the time of delivery to the Russian Navy has been delayed several times. In response to RT.ru, Editor-in-Chief of the Defense Journal Igor Korotchenko explained that the delay was due to the need to test a large number of new technical solutions integrated into the project 885M nuclear submarine. According to experts, the construction and testing of a lead submarine of an improved or new project is always a long process and goes through many complicated stages. In addition, for the domestic shipbuilding industry and the Russian Ministry of Defense, the improvement of nuclear-powered submarines is to a state that allows the performance of effective combat missions on a large scale of the oceans. Positive is an urgent priority today. Meanwhile, the founder of the Russian military information site Dmitry Kornev said that delaying the commissioning of the Kazan submarine is completely reasonable. He explained the difficulties caused by a large amount of research and development work, along with the establishment of a large-scale industrial co-production system. “The Yasen-class nuclear submarine is a completely new and technically challenging project for our industry. The real partnership mechanism was created from the very beginning, with hundreds of businesses from many different industries. It took a lot of time to find contractors and fine-tune the delivery mechanism. Russia has also abandoned the use of imported components,” said expert Kornev. 4th generation nuclear submarine Kazan is a lead nuclear submarine of the fourth generation of project 885M (Yasen class), developed by the Malakhit Marine Design Bureau (Saint Petersburg). The construction of this nuclear submarine is carried out at the facilities of JSC PO Sevmash (Severodvinsk). The Kazan Multi-Purpose Nuclear Submarine is designed to destroy enemy surface ships, submarines, transport vehicles and ground targets. The submarine is equipped with eight vertical launch tubes, salvo-type launchers for Kalibr and Onyx high-precision cruise missiles, with ranges of up to 1,500 and 300 km. The Kazan nuclear submarine was developed by the Malakhit Marine Design Bureau. According to the developer, these weapons can engage highly protected, grouped targets, including those equipped with anti-missile defense systems. In addition, the attack weapon of the project 885/885M nuclear submarine is also equipped with 30 533 mm caliber torpedoes. The main operational characteristics of the Kazan and Yasen-class ships have not yet been revealed. However, according to experts, this modernized nuclear submarine is similar to the Project 885 Severodvinsk submarine, which entered service with the Northern Fleet in June 2014 in weight, size, and weapons. work, construction characteristics and speed. Analysts say the difference is mainly related to onboard equipment, including electronics and sonar equipment. The length of the Yasen-class submarine is about 139 m, the width is about 13 m, the draft is 10 m, the displacement is about 8,600 tons, underwater up to 13,800 tons. The ship is capable of independent operation for 100 days. The multi-purpose submarine can dive to a depth of 600 m and reach a speed of 57.4 km / h underwater. According to a report by the Malakhit Maritime Design Bureau, this project 885 nuclear submarine has a mixed architecture and structure with a sturdy double-hull structure, made of high-strength steel. Expert Dmitry Kornev explained that the engineers of the Malakhit Marine Design Bureau considered a two-hull scheme for the production of nuclear submarines. The two-body scheme is resistant to mechanical damage, but is more expensive and has a relatively high noise level. Accordingly, a reasonable solution was found at Yasen when the two hulls together covered the bow of the submarine and the structural elements near the launch pad, i.e. the parts that bear the greatest load. The hull of project 885/885M is divided by strong bulkheads into 8 compartments, including: main bridge, torpedo compartment, living quarters, electromechanical, missile, reactor, turbine and auxiliary compartment. aid. “To create optimal conditions for the operation of the hydroacoustic complex, the torpedo tubes were removed from the bow and placed at an angle to the center plane. A large diameter GAK (hydroacoustic complex) spherical antenna is located at the end of the bow,” the Malakhit Maritime Design Bureau report states. The quality of the sonar equipment plays an extremely important role in the performance of the assigned tasks of nuclear submarines in the vast range of the ocean. Yesen submarine hydroacoustic complex system is used to detect enemies, classify targets, find interference direction, measure ice thickness, detect mines and torpedoes, search for ice holes to fly up and launch. safe rocket. Also according to the developer, the main power unit of the project 885/885M nuclear submarines belongs to the new generation. It consists of a pressurized water reactor and a modular single-shaft steam turbine unit, with various mechanisms and redundancies, capable of reducing the acoustic parameters of the submarine. Another technical innovation in Yasen-class submarines is a rescue chamber designed to evacuate the entire crew. This equipment is improved by domestic experts, taking into account the experience of domestic and foreign submarine accidents and incidents. The main nuclear submarine of the Russian Navy According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the project 885M submarines “will become an important part of the offensive power” of the Russian Navy and will be able to effectively operate as part of a strike group at any distance. any way compared to the base points. The crew of the project 885M Kazan nuclear submarine. Photo: Russian Ministry of Defense. “In the Yasen-M class nuclear submarine project, a number of technical solutions were used that were not previously used in domestic submarine construction. The basic components of the electronic weapon complexes, modernized equipment and rescue systems are exclusively Russian products,” the Russian military agency said. In the immediate future, the nuclear-powered submarines of Project 885M will become the main multi-purpose nuclear submarine of the Russian Navy. Currently, seven such submarines are under construction, including Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Arkhangelsk, Perm, Ulyanovsk, Voronezh and Vladivostok. Experts expect that the construction and testing of these submarines will not take much time, as the verification of technical solutions and the building of cooperative relationships have been successfully completed during construction. Kazan nuclear submarine. “The official transfer of Kazan to the navy allows us to conclude that the main difficulties for the implementation of the plans for the Yasen-M project have been overcome. This is a modern, fully Russian nuclear submarine. It is superior to all existing nuclear submarines abroad in terms of overall capabilities”, emphasized expert Kornev. This expert believes that putting project 885M submarines into service will significantly improve the combat capabilities of the Russian Navy. Accordingly, in the future the Yasen-M nuclear submarine will receive Zircon hypersonic missiles in its arsenal. Currently, this weapon is still being tested. Expert Igor Korotchenko said that the appearance of nuclear-powered ships of project 885M will increase the offensive and defensive capabilities of the Russian Navy. Yasen-class submarines will significantly strengthen the position of the Russian Navy, allowing a more efficient and high-quality implementation of the assigned tasks. “With the introduction of new nuclear submarines, the Russian Navy will receive a significant increase in submarine nuclear deterrence,” concluded Korotchenko.