Russian Navy Receives Submarine for Special Operations Belgorod, Equipped With Poseidon Nuclear Underwater Drone

Peluncuran kapal selam Belgorod Rusia. (Sumber: Naval News/Oleg Kuleshov)

JAKARTA - The Sevmash Shipyard delivered Project 09852 Belgorod, a special operations submarine capable of carrying the Poseidon nuclear underwater drone to the Russian Navy, the Shipyard's press office announced on Friday.

"On July 8, 2022, a special ceremony was held at the Sevmash Production Association (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation), Russia's largest shipbuilding company, to sign the certificate of acceptance/delivery of the research submarine Belgorod to the Navy", the press office said in a statement, launched TASS July 8th.

Designed for special operations, the Belgorod is capable of carrying out various research tasks, implementing research and rescue operations, to carrying deep-sea rescue and autonomous unmanned submersible vehicles on board.

As the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy Nikolay Yevmenov said at the submarine delivery ceremony, the Belgorod will open up new opportunities for conducting research.

"The Belgorod submarine opens up new opportunities for Russia to conduct various researches and help carry out various scientific expeditions and rescue operations in remote areas of the World Ocean", he explained.

The Project 09852 Belgorod submarine is Poseidon's first nuclear-powered underwater drone carrier, launched on 23 April 2019. The submarine was originally planned to be delivered to the Navy in 2020. According to available data, its delivery was delayed because its test program was not completed, which is also caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.

It is understood that under Russia's state weapons program until 2027, the shipbuilder will deliver three special-purpose nuclear-powered submarines to the Russian Navy.