Russia's Submarine Fleet Receives Huge Boost

Russia's navy will gain another two nuclear submarines by the end of 2023, according to Russian state media.

A Borei-A class and a Yasen-M class submarine will enter service with the Russian military in the next six months, Aleksey Rakhmanov, the chief executive of Russian shipbuilder, the United States Corporation, told the Tass news agency on Wednesday.

Russia's submarine fleet is considered a formidable underwater force, and one that is superior to Moscow's surface naval fleet, according to Western experts.

Unlike the U.S. Navy's exclusively nuclear fleet, Moscow has both nuclear-powered and conventionally-powered submarines in operation.

The Borei-A class submarine, known as the Emperor Alexander III, and the Krasnoyarsk Yasen-M class submarine will be delivered alongside three diesel-electric submarines, Rakhmanov said. These will be Lada class and Varshavyanka class vessels.

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

According to The Military Balance, the annual report produced by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) on the world's armed forces, Russia had 51 submarines at the start of 2023.

It had three Borei and two Borei-A class submarines, along with one Yasen and two Yasen-M class subs, according to this data. Moscow's navy had 10 Varshavyanka, or Improved Kilo-class, vessels, and one Lada undergoing testing.

The Krasnoyarsk is the third of Russia's updated Yasen-M class submarines, which are "the crown jewel of the contemporary Russian Navy and perhaps the pinnacle of present-day Russian military technology," Edward Geist of the RAND research corporation previously told Newsweek.

The Yasens are nuclear cruise missile submarines (SSGNs), and they are capable of carrying Russia's new Tsirkon, or Zircon, hypersonic missile, as well as long-range Kalibr cruise missiles, Geist said.

But experts say the Yasen-class submarines come with a hefty price tag. They are, "even by Western standards, an expensive boat," Mark Grove, a senior lecturer at the University of Lincoln's Maritime Studies Center at the Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth, U.K., told Newsweek in March.

The Krasnoyarsk has been undergoing trials since June 2022, Russian state media reported.

The Emperor Alexander III was floated out in December 2022, in a ceremony attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Borei-class and Borei-A class submarines carry 16 Bulava intercontinental ballistic missiles, and Russian state media has lauded the later versions for being better stealth vessels and having improved armament control systems.

There is an increasing focus in NATO countries on being able to counteract Russia's underwater fleet, which has received significant investment in recent years, experts told Newsweek.

Russian submarines are increasingly being tracked moving in "strange routes," and in recent years, "NATO navies have spent a lot of time and effort reviving their anti-submarine warfare skills and capabilities," Nick Childs, a senior fellow for naval forces and maritime security at the IISS think tank, said last month.