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Varshavyanka-class subs for Russia’s Pacific Fleet to get advanced equipment

The series of Project 636.3 conventional submarines will be delivered to the Pacific Fleet by 2025
Project 636.3 submarine Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Alexander Demianchuk/TASS
Project 636.3 submarine Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
© Alexander Demianchuk/TASS

MOSCOW, April 1. /TASS/. A series of six Project 636.3 Varshavyanka-class diesel-electric submarines under construction for Russia’s Pacific Fleet will get improved radio-technical equipment and life support systems, Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Korolyov said at a working meeting in the Admiralty on Monday.

"A series of Project 636.3 submarines for the Pacific Fleet will operate more advanced life support and radio-technical systems," the Defense Ministry quoted the Navy chief as saying.

This has been achieved thanks to the Navy Main Command’s constant and close interaction in the sphere of conventional submarine-building with the United Shipbuilding Corporation, the Rubin Central Design Bureau and the Admiralty Shipyard, Korolyov stressed.

The series of Project 636.3 conventional submarines will be delivered to the Pacific Fleet by 2025. The construction of this series is set to be completed in 2022 while the subs’ trials will take the next three years, the Navy chief said.

The first Project 636.3 submarine Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky was floated out for Russia’s Pacific Fleet at the Admiralty Shipyard in St. Petersburg on March 28.

As Admiralty Shipyard CEO Alexander Buzakov said earlier, all the Project 636.3 submarines will be built by 2022.

The Project 636.3 (‘Varshavyanka’) is referred to the third generation of diesel-electric submarines. The submarines of this type have been designed by the Rubin Central Design Bureau. They develop a speed of up to 20 knots, have sea endurance of 45 days and a crew of 52 men. They can dive to a depth of about 300 meters. The submarines of this class displace over 2,000 tonnes in their surface position and about 4,000 tonnes under the water. Varshavyanka-class subs are armed with Kalibr cruise missiles.

The first series of six submarines for the Black Sea Fleet was under construction from 2010 to 2016. The first two subs for the Pacific Fleet have been named the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and the Volkhov.

Project 636 submarines are considered to be the most noiseless among Russian conventional subs. They have been dubbed the ‘Black Hole’ for their unique quietness. They are also furnished with modern radar and communications systems, sonars and 533mm torpedoes.