The next trial phase of Project 677 Lada diesel electric submarine St. Petersburg will be carried out in 2012, reports ITAR-TASS referring to director of Admiralteyskie Verfi shipyard Alexander Buzakov. As for him, the further fate of the project will be determined after trials.
Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief ADM Vladimir Vysotsky said early Feb 2012 that Russian Navy would reject construction of Project 677 submarines due to imperfect powerplant. “Russian Navy does not need Lada in current variant. We don’t need new ‘brains’ and arms mounted on past-age powerplant. Why? Who needs it? Moreover, operational features are also obsolete” , said the commander.
Later on, Vysotsky said he used vehement language only regarding the lead submarine but not the Lada project in general. “Main problem of that submarine is powerplant. As for now, we have been shown a mockup of anaerobic [air-independent] plant providing quite considerable power. Of course, there are many issues to be settled. But actually, we do expect to obtain a functioning sample” , said the admiral.
According to the Navy Commander, testbed trials of refined powerplant “display encouraging results”. Presently, the second and the third subs of the series – SSK Kronshtadt and SSK Sevastopol – are under construction at Admiralteyskie Verfi shipyard, as well as export variant – Project 1650 Amur .
In the nearest future it is planned to develop modernized Lada project, and the subs will pass upgrade after 2013, recently said Andrei Diachkov, Director General of Rubin Design Bureau developed projects 677 and 1650. Submarine St. Petersburg was built in 2004, and has been under experimental operation at Baltic Fleet since May 2010. In 2008, Russian Navy planned to purchase twenty Project 677 subs.
Lada -class submarines displace 1,800 tons and are considered quite silent. Submerged speed is up to 21 knots; test depth is 350 meters; crew is 36 men; armament includes torpedoes, rocket torpedoes, and air defense system Igla-1M .
[mappress] Naval Today Staff , March 23, 2012;