Everyone in the boat: how the Yasen-M submarines will change the capabilities of the fleet

What are the ships of the new project equipped with and when will all eight of them start serving

At the end of July, the new nuclear submarine Novosibirsk of the Yasen-M project will carry out combat training launches of cruise missiles and go to a permanent base in the Pacific Ocean. The second serial submarine of the same project, the Krasnoyarsk, entered sea trials in early July. As sources in the military-industrial complex told Izvestia, the schedule of work and testing of both submarines has already been agreed with the military department, and their components and mechanisms are in a high degree of readiness. What does this mean for the combat readiness of the Russian fleet and ensuring the security of the state, military expert Dmitry Kornev was specially examined for Izvestia.

Secret Service

The construction and commissioning of the newest multipurpose nuclear submarines of the Yasen-M project are gradually getting into a rhythm and starting to move according to plan. These submarines are a serial continuation of the Severodvinsk boat of project 885 "Ash", laid down back in 1993. It was built for a record long time — 18 years. The Yasen project incorporated all the achievements of the Soviet underwater shipbuilding: the maximum reduced noise, a revolutionary hull design, a unique sonar system, onboard torpedo tubes, a universal vertical launcher for missiles of various purposes. In fact, Severodvinsk became a submarine on which the most advanced solutions were worked out, which were subsequently implemented in the serial project 885M "Yasen-M".

Arrival of the multipurpose nuclear submarine K-561 "Kazan" of the Yasen-M project to the place of permanent basing in the Nerpichya Bay in the Murmansk region

Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti/Pavel Lviv

It is a series of eight universal shock boats. In the navy, the first ship of the series is called the lead ship, followed by serial samples — the first, second, and so on. The lead boat of the Yasen-M project was the K-561 Kazan, and the first serial was the K-573 Novosibirsk. After three years of testing and fine-tuning, Kazan joined the Northern Fleet in May 2021. Novosibirsk was accepted into the Navy after Kazan in December last year. The updated project is being built only by the Russian cooperation of enterprises and has upgraded systems and equipment. The new submarine became several meters shorter than the first "Ash", but retained all the main features.

The solemn ceremony of launching the first serial nuclear submarine of the Yasen-M K-573 Novosibirsk project at the Sevmash enterprise in Severodvinsk. twothousandnineteen

Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti

The submarines of the project are universal shock and can perform tasks both to combat other submarines and to destroy surface and ground targets. Under water, "Ash-M" "hears" everything at a distance of tens of kilometers with the help of the hydroacoustic complex "Irtysh-Amphora". It includes a powerful nose spherical antenna and several onboard antennas. In fact, "Ash-M" "listens" to the surrounding space not only in the front hemisphere, but also on the sides and in the rear hemisphere. Taking into account the reduced noise, this gives the advantage of being the first to detect the enemy and strike.

Long-range strike

The boat is equipped with the most modern homing torpedoes that can attack submarines and surface ships. Having received the coordinates of the enemy, Yasen-M can use Kalibr-PL missiles against such targets. The nuclear-powered "Ash Trees" are not a simple "Caliber", which is markedly different from a similar missile system placed on non-nuclear submarines of the 06363 project. Ash launchers, in addition to the Kalibr and Onyx cruise missiles, can also use noticeably more powerful universal hypersonic Zircons, the tests of which should be completed this year. Conventional "Calibers" can hit sea targets at a range of at least 250 km and land targets at a range of up to 2.5 thousand km.

With such weapons, "Ash Trees" can actually perform strategic tasks, as they are capable of delivering an unexpected decapitating and inescapable strike with "Zircons" at a range of at least 1 thousand km. It is almost impossible for modern air defense to repel the raid of these hypersonic missiles.

Eight serial nuclear attack boats are not so many, only four boats for the Northern and Pacific Fleets. Most likely, the construction of no less versatile, but possibly more budget boats of the Husky project will begin following the Yasen-M series. There are no details on them yet, and some comparisons are still purely hypothetical. But the first boat for the Pacific Ocean, K—573 Novosibirsk, will make the transition to Kamchatka before this winter, where it will serve together with the newest strategic missile submarines of the Borey project. Later and as soon as they are ready, several more boats of the 885M project will join them. It is expected that in general, the construction of the Ash-M series will be completed in 2027-2028. The next boat of the project — K-571 "Krasnoyarsk" — the fleet should receive by the end of 2022. It was this submarine that went to sea at the end of June for sea trials. It is quite possible that after the completion of work and wintering in the Northern Fleet, Krasnoyarsk will also go to the Pacific Ocean. This will significantly strengthen the Pacific submarine grouping of the Russian Navy. After the Krasnoyarsk, the fleet will be waiting for the Arkhangelsk, Perm, Ulyanovsk, Voronezh and Vladivostok.

Dmitry Kornev