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Shipbuilders unlikely to deliver advanced submarine Kazan to Russian Navy in 2019 — source

The sub has been in the Sevmash dock since the beginning of this year for maintenance and the removal of flaws

MOSCOW, May 17. /TASS/. The Project 885M Yasen-M-class multipurpose nuclear-powered submarine Kazan won’t be delivered to the Russian Navy in 2019 due to the need to finalize some auxiliary systems that fail to meet the Defense Ministry’s requirements, a source in the defense industry told TASS on Friday.

"Following the results of dockside trials, and also the winter stage of shipbuilders’ trials [which ended in January], it has been established that some of the ship’s auxiliary sub-assemblies and mechanisms do not meet the requirements of the specifications set by the Defense Ministry, including reliability characteristics, and require finalizing in the Sevmash dock," the source said.

It will take at least several months to finalize the sub’s systems, after which the Kazan will have to take to the sea again for shipbuilders’ and then state trials, the source noted.

"It is absolutely unrealistic to accomplish all this by the end of the year. It is not ruled out that the entire year 2020 will be required and the Sevmash Shipyard will be able to deliver the sub to the Fleet only in 2021," the source said.

The sub has been in the Sevmash dock since the beginning of this year for maintenance and the removal of flaws, the source added.

Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation declined to comment for TASS on the source’s information about the timeframe of delivering the submarine Kazan to the Navy.