Two Russian nuclear-powered submarines are now laid at the country's Sevmash Shipyard and they will soon be getting hypersonic weapons as an upgrade. Sevmash's chief executive said the Project 885M 'Yasen-M' submarines will be named Voronezh and the Vladivostok as an honor to Russian military cities.
Project 885M Yasen-M, is referred to as Graney class, which is the newest nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine designed by Malakhit is constructed by Sevmash for the Russian Navy.
On Monday, Russia newly laid six ships at the same time, in three of the leading Russian shipyards. Among those, two are universal amphibious assault ships on the Crimean Peninsula. Two other ships are frigates in St.Petersburg, while another two of them are the nuclear-powered submarines, reported Express.
The universal amphibious assault ships and the frigates would be named after Russian military and naval commanders of glory, Russian President Putin said.
Army-2019 Contract
It was in the last year's Army-2019 international arms show that the contract to build multi-purpose nuclear-powered submarines was signed.
The lead submarine being upgraded will be delivered to the Russian navy in 2020, and will carry the hypersonic missiles as their basic weapons. This comes at a time when the Russian and the NATO military units are seen to be active in the Arctic, raising an alarm for the world about a potential war.
Arctic Conditions Favorable
Both the US and Russia are keen to increase presence in the Arctic region owing to the rising temperatures that make the area more accessible. Military forces of both countries are in close proximity to the European Arctic. It was the first time since the 1990s that an American aircraft carrier flew above the Arctic Circle, back in 2018.
US navy surface ships went to the Barents Sea in May, for the first time in more than 30 years. Russia called this "provocative" and also conducted their exercise a few days later. Also, the US airmen had traveled to an island in the Norwegian Sea, testing whether their military transport aircraft could land there. As this happened last year, it rang an alarm for Russia to get ready.
It looked "crystal clear" that US partners had the best understanding of the Arctic region "so our reliance on them, and the interaction, as demonstrated by our visit up there to learn from our partners, is really going to be key to our success," said General Jeffrey Harrigian, commander of the US Air Forces in Europe.
