The long-awaited news came from St. Petersburg: the Kronstadt submarine is being transferred to the Russian Navy. She is the first serial in the line of non-nuclear submarines built at Admiralty Shipyards according to the adjusted Lada project 677. Igor Vilnit, General Director of the Central Design Bureau of Marine Technology Rubin, gives his assessment of the significant fact and the events that preceded it in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
- As we understand it, Igor Vladimirovich, the word "serial" is the main thing in this news. I have heard more than once or twice that ensuring the serial construction of non-nuclear submarines of the 677 project is one of the key areas in the implementation of the state defense order. And why? What are the advantages of submarines of this type that can be openly discussed today?
Igor Vilnit: In terms of stealth, this submarine is several times superior to its predecessors. The extremely low noise level of the boat is provided by specially designed equipment for it. And the widespread use of modern acoustic protection equipment, an external anti-hydrolocation coating, carefully designed body contours work for its low visibility.
From the point of view of dueling situations, it is important to detect the enemy first and, if necessary, successfully confront him. The submarine of Project 677 has a very powerful sonar system, missile-torpedo and electronic weapons. I want to focus on the hydroacoustics of the Lada: This is not just a wider range of acoustic waves, it is a significantly longer target detection range. It took a lot of effort to achieve this result…
- Can you explain what this is related to?
Igor Vilnit: The fact is that hydroacoustics, which is able to pick up the noises of lower-noise targets, "examining" a large volume of the aquatic environment, naturally picks up noticeably more extraneous noise. That is, interference. And in order to isolate a useful signal from interference, a very good and "high-speed" hydroacoustic data processing system is required. But that's not all. Finding a target in conditions of complex hydrology is half the battle. It needs to be classified, its speed, depth and direction of movement must be determined. At the same time, both our boat and the enemy's boat are moving, and the environment is not static.
Such a task has been solved for Lada, and we confirmed this during the pilot operation of the lead ship.
- Is the main one "St. Petersburg"?
Igor Vilnit: Yes, he successfully detected low-noise nuclear and non-nuclear submarines of other projects, as well as surface targets. And secretly followed them for a long time.
When creating the 677 series, Rubin's designers sought to ensure greater underwater autonomy - that is, the time when the boat is continuously submerged. Thus, Lada meets all the modern requirements that are imposed on a ship of this class. The entry of a series of these ships into service with the Russian Navy will significantly increase the defense capabilities of the general-purpose naval forces.
- I've read and heard such a statement: "The novelty coefficient of Lada as an engineering structure is about 0.7." What is it worth hiding behind this stingy figure?
Igor Vilnit: All coefficients contain an element of guile. But a lot of new equipment has indeed been developed for Lada, and many new technical solutions have been applied in the project. The architecture of the ship is new. The entire power plant is new. Most of the electronic weapons are new. A new radio communications complex, a new exterior coating and much more.
It is no secret that the tests of the lead ship of this series were very difficult, took a long time, caused unflattering reviews, and sometimes criticism from the customer in the person of the Navy and the Northern Fleet. What was the reason and how was it overcome?
Igor Vilnit: Here we need to turn to the history of the appearance of Lada. The decision to create a fourth-generation non-nuclear submarine was made in the nineties. It was a critical period when the issue of not only maintaining the combat capability of the Navy, preserving design bureaus and shipyards, but also the entire production cooperation, which includes hundreds of enterprises, was being resolved.
And in such a situation, when our main co-executors were at the stage of reorganization, the ownership and activities of enterprises changed, and the lead ship was built. It has been tested and commissioned into the Russian Navy. Due to the fact that the country's leadership supported this project, the teams were able to realize their scientific and technical potential without fear of closing their enterprises for financial and economic reasons. And design and scientific organizations, manufacturing enterprises, from where the equipment was supplied, including new samples of it, did not lose personnel, preserved the threads of continuity that are so necessary when creating such complex equipment as a warship.
What is the order of the numbers when you talk about new equipment for "Lada?
Igor Vilnit: More than 130 completely new pieces of equipment have been created for her. And they are not just created - they are installed on the lead boat. And what was the time? No funds were allocated for bench testing. The first samples went directly to the ship and then it took time for their practical refinement.
This concerns the conditions in which the ship was created and why it took so much time to conduct tests. During the trial operation, questions also arose. But there was no one among them who would not allow the boat to be operated or say that some mistakes were made when creating the ship.
How and where did the pilot operation take place? Can we reveal the details?
Igor Vilnit: Unlike most submarines, the St. Petersburg underwent pilot operation at two fundamentally different theaters. He started in the Baltic Sea - the so-called "shallow sea" with very peculiar acoustic conditions and hydrology, as well as intensive traffic of civilian vessels. Even the sea waves in the Baltic are different from those in the northern seas.
The non-nuclear submarine Kronstadt of project 677 was accepted into the Russian Navy / Authors: Alexey Petrov, Anastasia Kupreenko
Then the boat moved to the north, where the conditions are completely different: the hydrology of the cold and deep seas, the edges of the ice, another interference regime. In addition to sonar tests, in the northern seas, with strong waves and wind, the lead submarine showed the ability to dive and surface, as well as maneuver along the course in all directions in relation to the running of the wave.
The ship has fully confirmed compliance with the specified technical characteristics, therefore, in 2020, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy approved the final act on the successful completion of the pilot operation program.
By the way, the submarines of the third generation, such as the Antey and Akula, also underwent a period of trial operation. During this period, the ship's operation schemes are being worked out, mechanisms are checked for resource efficiency and the correctness of decisions made.
- Wasn't there a repetition of the already well-known history in the past, when the development of design, scientific and technical thought far outstripped the production and technological capabilities of shipbuilding enterprises and their related suppliers of ship systems and accessories?
Igor Vilnit: This is a pleasant formulation for the designer, but it greatly simplifies the real state of affairs in the late nineties and early two thousandth years.
- What do you mean?
Igor Vilnit: The creation of new equipment and the application of new technical solutions was not a whim of the designer. By the mid-90s, the equipment that was originally intended for Project 677 had been in existence for more than twenty years. And it would be extremely imprudent to hope that it will "live" another thirty. After all, all this time, foreign colleagues and competitors have been improving their equipment, almost every year bringing samples with increasingly high characteristics to the market. The technology of building boats was also developing. And the Navy, obviously, wanted to get new boats with characteristics that are not inferior to the best foreign analogues.…
- And did it take time for all this to "grow together", for new samples to appear and new systems and equipment based on them?
Igor Vilnit: Yes. And as I said, the entire "readjustment" of production took place during a period when part of the industry was abroad, and the rest was funded very conditionally. Gradually, through joint efforts, these difficulties were overcome and it turned out that the solutions included in the project were implemented, the equipment was mass-produced and successfully used not only at Lada, but also on other projects.
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| The Kronstadt submarine of project 677 Lada. |
| Source: rg.ru |
How has the situation changed in the last ten years, and what distinguishes the modernized Kronstadt from the main one in the St. Petersburg series?
Igor Vilnit: Rubin took into account the results of the pilot operation of the lead ship in an improved technical design, according to which Kronstadt was built and a further series is being built at Admiralty Shipyards. In June 2022, the plant laid the fourth and fifth boats. Time has passed between the commissioning of the first and second ships, so the element base has been updated, a number of shipboard equipment has been modernized, its capabilities and reliability have been increased.
- Both my colleagues and I remember an involuntary compliment to the creators of Lada from Admiral Viktor Chirkov: "If the submarine 877 of the project was called a "Black Hole", this submarine will be called "Invisible". No one will really see or hear her." Is there no exaggeration here? Or: if you don't praise yourself, won't the other one praise you?
Igor Vilnit: Viktor Viktorovich commanded the Baltic Fleet when the St. Petersburg was put into pilot operation. And in 2012-2016, he was the commander-in-chief of the Navy, so he knows Lada well. For a submarine, invisibility is the ability to detect an enemy before they can detect you. To do this, you need to have a low noise level and high sonar capabilities. Lada is really in a winning position in both of these parameters.
- Both the designers and the builders of the Kronstadt are waiting with special feelings for the new ship to be accepted into the Russian Navy. Our submariners also pin their hopes on the upgraded version of the Lada. And the fact of commissioning the first production ship of this project certainly raises its export potential. How do Rubin, Rosoboronexport, and your other partners in the military-technical cooperation assess this, if we are talking about the Amur-1650 export project?
Igor Vilnit: Of course, friendly foreign customers are closely monitoring the implementation of Project 677, and the commissioning of the first production ship is very important. This is another signal that the project has taken place. We offer our foreign partners an export modification, the Amur-1650, along with the 636 project, which has long and firmly established itself in the export market thanks to a powerful missile system. The interest of specific buyers in the type of boat depends on what task the Navy of a particular country sets itself. However, given that Amur-1650 is a next-generation project, we expect that it will take over from the Kilo class and form the basis of our exports in the coming decades.
Raising the flag on a production ship is a common holiday for all its creators
In the autumn of 2018, when the Kronstadt was launched, the management of the Admiralty Shipyards made it clear that the difficult streak was over, and the forced pause in the construction of the series allowed lessons to be learned and important experience accumulated. What could the chief designer of the project add to this?
Alexander Arsentiev, since 2008 - Chief designer of project 677:
- More than five hundred Russian contractors participated in the creation of Lada: scientific organizations, system designers, suppliers of equipment and materials. This submarine is a high-tech system in which our joint plans are realized.
Due to certain circumstances, the project was indeed difficult at first, but the first serial Lada in its current form is undoubtedly a positive result, which indicates that the program took place. And this is the merit of all the participants of the cooperation. During the tests, our ship confirmed its high tactical and technical characteristics.
We are grateful to the sailors of the Baltic and Northern Fleets, who "ran in" the lead boat, the St. Petersburg, and gave us their comments and suggestions for an improved project, according to which the Kronstadt was built. We are glad that we have built a long-standing and very well-coordinated partnership with Admiralty Shipyards, which allowed us to promptly resolve all issues that arose during construction and testing. The expected raising of the flag on this ship is our common holiday. The scientific, technical and creative potential of Russian shipbuilding has found its visible embodiment in the Kronstadt submarine.
Alexander Emelianenkov