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Russian submarine sea trials set for 2004
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| 11 July 2003 |
By Richard Scott
Officials from the Rubin Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering expect Saint Petersburg, the first Project 677 Lada-class diesel-electric submarine for the Russian Federation Navy, to begin sea trials in April 2004.
Bureau officials speaking to JNI in June 2003 said that Saint Petersburg is now 85% complete at the Admiralty Shipyard in St Petersburg, but acknowledged that the boat's equipment acceptance programme had suffered some slippage.
According to Rubin, it is now planned to launch the Saint Petersburg in November this year. If any further delays are encountered, however, launch may be further delayed until April 2004 (after the Russian winter).
Construction of Saint Petersburg began in 1996. Characterised as a 'fourth-generation' diesel-electric submarine, the single-hull design displaces 1,765t surfaced and can carry an outload of 18 weapons (including heavyweight torpedoes or the 3M-54E1 anti-ship missile associated with the Club-S missile system).
Key improvements over the earlier Project 636 Kilo-class design include enhanced quietening, a fully integrated multi-array sonar suite, reduced manning, significantly improved batteries, and an integrated automation and combat-control system.
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