ST. PETERSBURG, July 11. /TASS/. The Sevmash Shipyard in northwest Russia will lay down two advanced Project 885M ‘Yasen-M’ multirole nuclear-powered submarines in 2020-2021, Sevmash CEO Mikhail Budnichenko told TASS at the St. Petersburg international maritime defense show on Thursday.

A contract on building two Yasen-M submarines was signed at the Army-2019 international military and technical forum that was held outside Moscow on June 25-30.

"These submarines will approximately be laid down in 2020-2021," the Sevmash chief executive said.

When asked by TASS about the possible delivery timeframe, the chief executive said that "the construction cycle for these submarines is seven years." Therefore, these underwater cruisers may enter service with the Russian Navy in 2027-2028.

By now, the Sevmash Shipyard (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation) has built and delivered the baseline Project 885 Yasen-class submarine Severodvinsk to the Navy. It has entered service with Russia’s Northern Fleet. The improved Project 885M Yasen-M lead submarine Kazan is currently undergoing trials. Five more Project 885M submarines are at various stages of their construction.

The Project 885 and Project 885M submarines have been developed by the St. Petersburg-based Malakhit Marine Engineering Bureau. The submarines of this Project carry Oniks and Kalibr cruise missiles as their main armament. Compared to their predecessors, these submarines have their torpedo tubes moved further aft (the forepart houses a spherical sonar array, which allows detecting an enemy at large distances).