MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. The Russian Navy Main Command plans to have seven Project 949A and Project 949AM ‘Antey’ nuclear-powered submarines in the Northern and Pacific Fleets by the end of 2023, a source in the defense industry told TASS on Tuesday.
"By this time [2023], six Project 949A nuclear-powered submarines will get repaired based on their technical condition while the nuclear-powered sub Irkutsk will be modernized under the Project 949AM," the source specified.
TASS has no official confirmation of this information yet.
Currently, the nuclear-powered submarine Irkutsk is undergoing repairs and upgrade at the Far Eastern Zvezda ship repair plant. A source earlier told TASS that the sub’s strike capabilities would grow at least two-fold after its upgrade and it would be capable of carrying 48 new Kalibr-PL, Oniks and Tsirkon missiles.
According to the data of open sources, five Project 949A submarines are currently operational in the Northern and Pacific Fleets and one sub is under repairs. They carry 24 P-700 Granit anti-ship missiles as their basic strike weapons. One submarine of this project, the Kursk, sank in an accident in 2000.