Russia orders construction of new nuclear submarines and warships to bolster navy forces

As part of stepping up the country’s wide-ranging militarization effort, Russia on Tuesday ordered the construction of new submarines and nuclear warships capable of carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles as tensions remained heightened with the West. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the construction of nuclear submarines with new combat capabilities by giving orders to the weapons exhibition by publicly placing construction orders for six warships and two armed nuclear submarines ICBM via video call.

Moscow ordered the construction of two nuclear submarines Dmitry Donskoy and Prince Potemkin armed with intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), two large diesel submarines named after the cities of Mozhaisk and Yakutsk, and two corvettes named Grozny (Fearsome) and Buyny (Wild) to be built at the Amur shipbuilding plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The Russian president has also ordered a new hypersonic Kinzhal (dagger) air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM) and the Sukhoi S-70 Okhotnik (fighter), a stealthy and heavy unmanned aerial combat vehicle (UCAV).

In a bid to arm its submarine fleet with lethal combat weapons, Moscow has also scheduled hypersonic missile tests from a Russian nuclear submarine for the end of this month. Pressure from the Kremlin to reshuffle Russian naval forces comes as ties between Moscow and the United States and its allies deteriorated after Russia’s illegal 2014 annexation of Ukrainian Crimea and its recent military deployment especially in the eastern Ukraine and Crimea. Putin had previously warned his navy was ready for battle to carry out an “inevitable strike” on enemy targets if it was in the “national interest of the country”, weeks after a British warship entered the waters disputed near the Crimea.

“We will continue to fly the Russian flag in strategically important ocean areas,” Putin said as Moscow sought to assert its regular naval presence on par with the Cold War-era Soviet Union with ships of the United States. different classes and weapon systems for its naval forces. .

The 2021 Moscow International Military Technical Forum, an exhibition on war and weapons attended by prominent figures including King Abdullah II of Jordan, exhibited advanced Russian military equipment and weapons to attract foreign buyers. Putin placed the naval order at the shipyards in Severodvinsk, St. Petersburg and Komsomolsk-on-Amour.

[US-NATO vessels in Black sea. Credit: Twitter/@dipamorg]

“A strong and sovereign Russia needs a strong and well-balanced navy,” Putin said. “We will continue to strengthen the potential of the Russian Navy, to develop its bases and infrastructure, to equip it with state-of-the-art weapons,” he added.

“I would like to stress that all ships will be equipped with modern high-precision weapons, the latest navigation and communication equipment. The majority of these technologies have proven their effectiveness in combat operations in Syria,” the president said. Russian Putin, while he addressing the shipyard workers.

Putin touted Moscow’s new generation of missile systems

The Russian Defense Ministry had previously launched the warship Admiral Gorshkov which launched a ballistic missile traveling with a range several times the speed of sound to reach its target over 350 km (217 miles) in the Sea of Barents. Admiral Gorshkov was stationed in the White Sea, north of Russia. President Putin introduced the Tsirkon missile as part of a new generation of missile systems manufactured by rocket design bureau NPO Mashinostroyenia.

Tsirkon has been tested for installation in the Yasen-class nuclear submarine of the Russian Northern Fleet, Severodvinsk. Putin had claimed that the Tsirkon missile would be capable of flying up to nine times the speed of sound and would have a range of 1,000 km (620 miles). Russia entered a new era of hypersonic missiles with a speed, maneuverability, and altitude that made it difficult for the enemy to follow and intercept them.

[Russia’s Admiral Gorshkov, a warship located in the White Sea, in the north of Russia. Credit: Russian Defence Ministry Press Service via AP]

Russian President Putin, while announcing on Tuesday the construction of at least two diesel submarines and two corvettes, said: weapons at the cutting edge of technology. “

Currently, Russia has 64 air-independent powered submarines with other advanced submarine warfare technologies. Boasting about Russia’s new generation of hypersonic weapons, President Putin had claimed that Russia was developing a range of hypersonic weapons and warships that it would station near U.S. territorial waters if the U.S. deployed nuclear weapons. at intermediate range in Europe. Moscow had repeatedly warned the United States against NATO-led military exercises in the Black Sea.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby previously told reporters that Russia’s modernization of weapons was “potentially destabilizing and posed significant risks.” The Russian Embassy in Washington, DC, for its part, replied in a statement that the deployment of an American hypersonic missile in Europe “would be extremely destabilizing.”

(With AP inputs)