Back on November 7, 2017, during a meeting of the Board of the Ministry of Defense, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov announced the start of a program for the development of an improved modification of the Project 955B Borey-B strategic missile submarine. The preliminary design of the updated version of SSBNs based on the improved hull from Project 955A "Borey-A" specialists of the Central Design Bureau of Marine Engineering "Rubin" (CDB MT "Rubin") will be engaged in early 2018, while the laying of the first SSBN should take place no later than 2023. According to numerous experts, "Borey-B", despite its belonging only to the improved fourth generation of SSBNs, will be able to represent the advanced submarine component of the Russian nuclear triad for several decades, perfectly complementing the multi-purpose strike capabilities of the low-noise submarines of the project 885M "Yasen-M" and promising "Husky" with the power of multi-unit nuclear "equipment" SLBM 3M-30 "Bulava".
At the same time, according to statements by some military experts directly related to the Navy, Borei-B will be quite capable of supplementing or even replacing (naturally, if necessary) Ash and Husky in their direct purpose - carrying out massive missile strikes against strategically important surface and ground targets of the enemy using anti-ship and strategic cruise missiles of the Caliber-PL and Onyx families, as well as preemptive torpedo attacks against the underwater and surface enemy without revealing their own location. A military specialist, Captain 1st Rank Vasily Dandykin recently told 360 about the availability of such capabilities in promising nuclear submarines of Project 955B "Borey-B".
Nevertheless, this opinion caused a fairly large resonance in the comments on some of the military-analytical and news resources of the Runet, which began to copy-paste the interviews of V. Dandykin from “Polyexpert” and “360”. Not without the participation of the well-known analytical / news resource "Military Parity", where in the comments to Dandykin's statement one could see a lot of negative statements in relation to the existing and promising SSBNs of pr. 955 / M "Borey / Borey-M". In particular, the submarines of the project, in accordance with the stereotype firmly entrenched in the American Navy regarding the Soviet nuclear submarines of the 2nd and 3rd generations, are called "roaring cows … not intended for quiet conflicts." Another “expert” commentator with 100% probability claims that, literally: “any Virginia will open Borei-B before its crew realizes that the US Navy AUG is in the immediate vicinity”. But let's think, starting not from the empty guesses of commentators-pseudo-experts, but from the technical merits of the existing modifications of the "Borey", described in official sources.
Like all modern foreign nuclear ballistic missile submarines (including "Le Triomphant" and "Ohio"), Project 955A "Borey" is represented by an advanced general design system of 2-stage damping, based on several platforms with individual groups of rubber-cord pneumatic shock absorbers. All mechanical elements that generate vibration waves are located on these platforms (including a single-shaft STU with a main turbo-gear unit OK-9VM with a capacity of 50 thousand hp, a nuclear power plant with a pressurized water reactor and a steam generating unit OK-650V, as well as turbine generators of variable current OK-2 and diesel generators), which, without depreciation structures, form hydroacoustic waves, adding tens of "critical" decibels.
Also, to reduce the acoustic signature, specialized rubber anti-hydroacoustic coatings were used. The picture is complemented by the GRDK-3.5M hydrojet propulsion unit, which provides the Borey-A submarines with a level of acoustic signature comparable to the same MAPL pr. 885 Ash, given that the latter have no jet propulsion units in their early modification. And now let's think for a minute: if the strategic missile submarine cruisers pr. 667BDRM "Dolphin" (3rd generation), distinguished by a very honorable age and the absence of a water cannon, in an unfavorable hydrological situation were detected by the American hydroacoustic complex AN / BQQ-5 (installed on MAPL class "Los Angeles") at a distance of 10 km, and in good (calm) - 30 km. Moreover, the Dolphins are equipped with a twin propulsion system, represented by low-noise 5-blade fixed-pitch propellers. It is not difficult to guess that the updated "Borei-B", which "threaten" to install an even more advanced water cannon, the above-mentioned SACs will be able to detect at a distance of up to 10 km (in difficult hydrological conditions).
At a distance of 15-25 km, the updated Borey can be detected by the AN / BQQ-10 (V) 4 hydroacoustic complex, which is the basis of the Virginia-class low-noise multipurpose nuclear submarines; "Unit 3") will cope with the task at a distance of 35-45 km, which will also be insufficient for the full-fledged defense of several US Navy AUGs operating at a great distance from each other. As for the capabilities of the SQS-53B / C SJC installed on the Arley Burke-class destroyers and the Ticonderoga cruisers, their sensitivity is unlikely to allow detecting Borei-B even in the middle of the first far zone of acoustic illumination, and this is a real problem for aircraft carrier strike groups of the United States, because the same UGST "Physicist" or TPS-53 torpedo has a range of 50 km, which means that the AUG may well be attacked by "Borey-B" without entering the range of SQS-53B / C sonar systems and other GAS attached to the AN / SQQ-89 system (especially in complex hydrological conditions).
At the same time, the submarines of the updated project 955B will be built around the promising Omnibus combat information and control system and the improved SJSC Irtysh - Afora - Borey, capable of detecting the acoustic profile of the AUG at a distance of 250 km. Consequently, in a duel situation, if Borey-B loses to Virginia, it will be insignificant, and this will definitely make it possible to inflict a crushing blow on the surface enemy from a distance of more than 200 km, using the 3M54E anti-ship missile system from 533-mm torpedo tubes or other anti-ship weapons from transport and launch cups installed in adapted cells of silo launchers by analogy with Ohio.
