Russia Launches New Kilo-Class Submarine Late This Year, Equipped With Kalibr . Cruise Missiles

Illustration of Russian Kilo Class diving. (Wikimedia Commons/LA (Phot) Guy/Pool/MOD)

JAKARTA - Russia's conventional submarine fleet will grow stronger, along with the launch of enhanced Kilo Class submarines, equipped with various features to the latest cruise missiles and theorpedoes.

Quoting TASS June 28, the press office of the Admiralty Shipyard Shipyard said, the fourth Project 636.3 Varshavyanka-class (NATO reporting name: Improved Kilo-II) Ufa submarine for the Russian Pacific Fleet will be launched later this year.

"Currently, the hull section of the Ufa Pacific series submarine has joined, and the main cable is being laid. The ship will be floated before the end of this year," the press office said in a statement.

The contract to build a series of six Project 636.3 diesel-electric submarines for the Russian Pacific Fleet was signed in September 2016. The main Project 636.3 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky submarine was delivered to the Russian Navy on November 25, 2019. The second Volkhov submarine was handed over to the Fleet on October 24, 2020.

Next, the third Magadan submarine entered the shipbuilder's sea trials on June 25 this year and will be delivered to the Navy in November 2021.

Illustration of the Russian Kilo Class submarine. (Wikimedia Commons/LA(Phot) Guy/Pool/MOD)

The modified Project 636.3 Varshavyanka-class submarines, are referred to as large third-generation diesel-electric underwater cruisers. The ship is characterized by higher combat efficiency compared to its predecessors.

Optimal combination of stealth acoustics and target detection range, the latest inertial navigator, advanced automated information and control systems, powerful high-speed torpedoes to an armament of Kalibr-PL cruise missiles launched from torpedo tubes from submarine positions, with an operational range of up to 7,500 miles.

The Project 636.3 submarine has an operational endurance at sea for 45 days, can dive to a depth of 300 meters, has a speed of up to 18 knots in a diving position. Each ship of this class will have a crew of 52, with six torpedo tubes.