Several loud statements were made by representatives of the General Staff of the Russian Navy. One of the statements concerns the creation of multipurpose nuclear submarines of the fourth generation, namely Project 885, which is part of the Ash class. The lead submarine of this project is the Severodvinsk submarine. According to a representative of the General Staff of the Navy, the Russian Navy will be replenished with ten such ships by 2020. In 2011, the third submarine hull of this project will be laid down.
This statement is hard to believe, since the construction of the nuclear submarine "Severodvinsk" began in December 1993 at the Northern Machine-Building Plant.
And so far, this submarine has not been accepted into the Russian fleet.
But even this is not the main thing, the main thing is the following. Thus, Academician A. Kokoshin, the former secretary of the Russian Security Council and the former 1st Deputy Minister of Defense, said that plans to build fifth-generation nuclear submarines have already been included in the current state armament program. Moreover, for the construction of these submarines, a single hull is envisaged, which will be used both for a strategic missile carrier and for a multipurpose submarine. They are currently being dealt with by the Malakhit and Rubin design bureaus, whose main specialization is now the creation of multipurpose and strategic submarines, respectively. 5th generation nuclear submarines will differ from their predecessors in less noise, a safe reactor, automation of various control systems and long-range weapons.
At the same time, the academician recalled that the concept of creating a 5th generation nuclear submarine was worked out back in the 90s. This concept was developed in conjunction with the apparatus of the Deputy Chief Commander of the Navy, the Directorate of Armaments of the Ministry of Defense and the Committee for Military Transport of the Ministry of Defense of Russia.
According to Kokoshin, the decision to unify the hull will make it possible to significantly reduce the development and construction costs of both strategic nuclear submarines and multipurpose submarines.
Kokoshin noted that many of the parameters of such unification are a complex scientific, technical, engineering task that requires the most complex mathematical modeling using powerful supercomputers available in our country. But the academician noted that although the weight and size indicators are not so critical for warships, unlike missile and aviation technology, scientists and engineers still have to work hard on these parameters with 5th generation nuclear submarines, especially since these indicators can directly depend on the habitability of submarines.
