The Kremlin leader announced the plans during the launch ceremony of the new nuclear submarine Perm, belonging to the Yasen-M class, which was held last week. This submarine will be the first to be employed full-time as a launch platform for the hypersonic cruise missile Zircon.
Initially, after the withdrawal of Soviet submarines, Russian military leaders had planned the construction of 30 Yasen-class submarines and 14 strategic units of the Borei class. However, Putin's announcement marks a change in Moscow's naval ambitions, with the goal revised to 10 units for each class.
One of the main obstacles to the realization of these programs is represented by the Sevmash shipyard, which constitutes a real bottleneck in the production chain. In recent years, the construction pace has been below expectations and only recently has the plant undergone a modernization process.
According to Pavel Luzin, a Russian defense expert at the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington, the Yasen-M submarine production line could be suspended shortly, in view of the start, by 2027, of the construction of the new fifth-generation nuclear submarine class, named Husky.
The complex combination of current Russian naval capabilities is also causing the authorities to hesitate on expanding the Yasen fleet, partly due to the lack of support systems, such as reconnaissance satellites, escort ships, and surveillance aircraft. This is highlighted by Dmitry Smirnov, a Russian military analyst.
Further complicating the situation is the growing shift of the defense budget towards the production of armaments intended for the war in Ukraine. This has significantly reduced orders for Sevmash, causing salary cuts among employees, according to economist Vyacheslav Shiryaev.
Finally, the sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine have deprived Russia of access to essential foreign components, forcing designers to start from scratch for some critical submarine systems.
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