Russia recently launched its new military submarine K-571 Krasnoyarsk in the Yasen-M class, one of the largest in the world. It is equipped with three types of cruise missiles, including the new hypersonic Zircon models.
This Russian submarine is the third of the planned 885M Project being built by Sevmash. It is the most modern and powerful model of the attack submarines in the Russian fleet, according to Naval News.
Some sensitive information about Moscow’s new submarine related to the types and performance of sonar, sensors, and stealth technology was not released. Instead, it is known that the ship will be able to carry up to 72 weapons.
Its closest opponent, the American Block V submarine of the Virginia class, has 140 meters, a longer length than its Russian counterpart (130 meters), but a smaller width – 10 meters, compared to 13 meters.
Crucially, the Yasen-class submarine is also said to have unparalleled stealth capabilities: according to unnamed Pentagon officials, the first submarine of the class, the Severodvinsk, slipped into the Atlantic Ocean on her maiden deployment and evaded detection for weeks.
In terms of armaments, the Americans equipped the Virginia-class submarines with 66 weapons in total, of which 40 were cruise missiles, while the Russians provided 72 weapons, of which 32 were cruise missiles, including the hypersonic model Zircon, which were tested in the Arctic.
The Yasen-M model can carry three types of missiles. The equivalent of the American Tomahawk missile is the Russian 3M14K Kalibr model, which was tested in the war in Syria.
The second type of Russian missile is the P-800 (3M55) Oniks, which is a supersonic model that has a shorter range than Kalibr.
Finally, the third model is the new 3M22 Zircon, a hypersonic anti-ship rocket, which is at the test level. The United States Navy also plans to equip its submarines with hypersonic missiles soon.
Title image: Severodvinsk, the lead submarine of Russia’s newest Yasen-class. (source: mil.ru)
