MOSCOW, July 20. /TASS/. Two upgraded Project 885M ‘Yasen-M’ nuclear-powered submarines laid down at the Sevmash Shipyard in Russia’s northwest on Monday will get hypersonic weapons, Sevmash CEO Mikhail Budnichenko said at the keel-laying ceremony.

"Today we are laying down ships with hypersonic weapons, which are the future of the Russian submarine fleet," the chief executive said.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin who attended the keel-laying ceremony for the Russian Navy’s first helicopter carriers at the Zaliv Shipyard in Kerch on the Crimean Peninsula on Monday said that the Project 885M ‘Yasen-M’ two multi-purpose nuclear powered subs laid down at the Sevmash would be named the Voronezh and the Vladivostok in honor of the Russian military glory cities.

Three leading Russian shipyards simultaneously laid down six new ocean-going ships on Monday: two universal amphibious assault ships in Kerch on the Crimean Peninsula, two frigates in St. Petersburg and two nuclear-powered submarines in Severodvinsk.

Following the tradition, the universal amphibious assault ships and next-generation frigates will be named after Russian glorified military and naval commanders "who did much for strengthening the Navy," Putin said at the keel-laying ceremony.

These are the helicopter carriers Ivan Rogov and Mitrofan Moskalenko and the frigates Admiral Yumashev and Admiral Spiridonov, he specified.

The contract for building Project 885M ‘Yasen-M’ multi-purpose nuclear-powered submarines was signed at the Army-2019 international arms show in the summer of 2019.

The baseline Project 885 lead nuclear-powered underwater cruiser Severodvinsk entered service with Russia’s Northern Fleet in 2014. The upgraded Project 885M lead sub Kazan is preparing for its delivery to the Navy in 2020.

Five Project 885M submarines are at various stages of their construction at the Sevmash Shipyard.

Project 885/885M submarines will carry Kalibr-PL and (or) Oniks cruise missiles and also Tsirkon hypersonic missiles as their basic weapons.