Key Points and Summary – Russia’s submarine force remains a potent and modernizing threat, even as its surface navy continues to struggle.
-The fleet is built around a core of advanced Yasen-class and improved Kilo-class attack submarines, complemented by a large number of legacy Soviet-era boats. The subs are built to fight NATO if a war in Europe were to ever break out beyond Ukraine.
-The newest Yasen-M class submarines are a particular concern for NATO, armed with Zircon hypersonic missiles and long-range Kalibr cruise missiles.
Deployed from bases in the high north, these submarines could hold three-quarters of Europe’s capital cities at risk, signaling a clear strategic focus on a smaller, stealthier, and more lethal undersea force.
Russia’s Attack Submarine Force Explained
The Russian Navy today fields one of the largest submarine fleets in the world, many of which are inherited from Russia’s naval predecessor, the Soviet Navy. Numbering an estimated 64 hulls in total, over half of the Russian Navy’s submarines are attack submarines, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit.
Fourteen of those submarines are nuclear-powered attack submarines, and a further twenty-three are diesel-electric attack submarines. Unlike some other navies, Russia does not operate any AIP, or air-independent propulsion, submarines.
Notable Russian attack submarines include the Yasen-class, a relatively modern, multi-role nuclear attack submarine that can perform hunter-killer missions in pursuit of convoys, other submarines, or warships on the surface, in addition to targeting other surface or land-based targets via onboard cruise missile weaponry.
Several subvariants of the Yasen-class, the Yasen-M-class, have recently entered service with the Russian Navy.
Russia’s Kilo-class submarines are another notable submarine class within the Russian Navy. These diesel-electric submarines, such as the Yasen-class, include several subvariants, including the Project 636.3, also known as the improved Kilos.
In addition to the Yasen and Kilo-class submarines, Russia also continues to operate legacy platforms, such as the Akula, Sierra, and Victor classes. Although these older platforms are still in use, they are gradually being phased out of active Russian naval service.
In December of last year, the Russian Navy accepted its fourth Yasen-M-class submarine into service, the Arkhangelsk, named after the city in Russia’s cold northwest. That class of submarines, with a displacement of 13,800 tons, can fire a variety of weaponry, including the 3M-22 Zircon hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile, the 3M-54 Kalibir NK land attack cruise missile, with a range of approximately 1,000 miles, as well as the P-800 Oniks, an anti-ship missile.
Although certainly a boost for the Russian Navy, the Arkhangelsk’s construction was lengthy and protracted, taking about a decade to complete. However, the construction has given the United States Navy and allied navies within NATO something to think about. The Barents Observer, a Norwegian online newspaper, explains.
“Russia is planning to expand its fleet of the Yasen-M class to 12 vessels,” The Barents Observer wrote, adding that “Half of them could be based in the Northern Fleet. After Arkhangelsk follow the Perm, Ulyanovsk, Voronezh and Vladivostok, all currently under construction at the Sevmash yard in Severodvinsk.”
“The Northern Fleet has chosen the piers in Nerpitcha at the submarine base in Zapadnaya Litsa as home port for the Yasen and Yasen-M class vessels. Located a short 60 kilometers from the border to NATO country Norway, Nerpitcha is the westernmost of all naval bases in northern Russia.”
The submarine’s long-range land attack weaponry poses a challenge to NATO planners. From the North Sea, the body of water between the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and Russia could threaten three-quarters of Europe’s capital cities with strikes.
As the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank in London, explains, the Yasen-M-class accelerated build signals an improvement in build time. “The Kazan was constructed in eight years, less than half the time taken to construct the Severodvinsk. The slow pace of the latter project was in large part due to the financial troubles which beset Russia in the immediate post-Soviet era,” RUSI writes.
“However, the design of the Kazan also evinces a number of evolutionary steps that should allow Russia to cut unit construction costs and build times for future vessels in the class. As such, we might expect future submarines in this class to enter the fleet at a more rapid pace than previously envisioned.”
Russia’s Attack Submarine Fleet: What Next?
Speaking to TASS, the Russian wire service, Igor Vilnit, the head of Russia’s Rubin design bureau, emphasized that the future of submarine design within the Russian Navy is shifting toward smaller, stealthier designs, compared to some of the enormous submarines that the Soviet Navy built during the Cold War.
Being smaller has some advantages too: a smaller platform can more easily evade enemy sonar, and in the shallower water of the North and Baltic Seas, would be more challenging to detect than some of the larger Soviet submarines of the past.
About the Author: Caleb Larson
Caleb Larson is an American multiformat journalist based in Berlin, Germany. His work covers the intersection of conflict and society, focusing on American foreign policy and European security. He has reported from Germany, Russia, and the United States. Most recently, he covered the war in Ukraine, reporting extensively on the war’s shifting battle lines from Donbas and writing on the war’s civilian and humanitarian toll. Previously, he worked as a Defense Reporter for POLITICO Europe. You can follow his latest work on X.
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