• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Romeo Squared

Defense with a Baltic edge

  • Air Force
  • Army
  • Navy
  • Russia
  • Military strategy
  • About
    • Privacy Policy

Russia struggles with air-independent submarines

2017-11-09 By Anders Puck Nielsen Leave a Comment

Most modern submarines are built with air-independent propulsion (AIP), but Russia still has not been able to make it work. This means that Russia still builds Kilo-class submarines with a propulsion system that is technologically outdated.

A submarine without AIP needs to recharge the electrical batteries ever so often through a snorkel operation that puts the submarine in a vulnerable position where it can easily be discovered. Therefore, when Russia started to develop the Lada-class submarine in 1997 as a successor to the Kilo-class, AIP was the primary feature.

The Lada-class may overall be considered a fiasco, as the AIP system still doesn’t work. Only one Lada-class submarine has been built so far, and two more are underway, but they don’t have AIP which was supposed to be the defining feature of the class. And as is stands now, it seems a long way out before Russia will have AIP submarines that are not nuclear.

Sébastien Robin has this explanation in The National Interest about Russia’s troubles with AIP and the production of the Lada-class:

[In] 2013, Itar-Tass announced that work on the Lada class had resumed. However, actions speak louder than words. In the same time period, the Russian Ministry of Defense ordered six additional Improved Kilo Project 636.3 boats to serve in its Pacific fleet. Most experts agree that Russia simply wasn’t able to develop an effective AIP propulsion system, in part due to a pervasive lack of funding and a tendency to promise big new projects that frequently fail to materialize.

Though Russian officials have occasionally talked up the benefits of AIP-powered submarines, necessary research and development funding has been concentrated on two nuclear-powered submarine projects, the Yasen-class attack submarine and the Borei ballistic-missile submarine.

That is certainly a plausible explanation. The whole article is very well written.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit

Related

Filed Under: Navy Tagged With: Russia

AvatarAnders Puck Nielsen is the editor of Romeo Squared. He is a military analyst at the Center for Maritime Operations at the Royal Danish Defense College.

Reader Interactions

< Previous
Next >

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Top Posts

  • Helicopter scandals for everyone, Black Hawk to the rescue
  • New ships to expect for Russia's navy in 2019
  • Turkey is losing Leopard 2 tanks in Syria at an alarming pace
  • Russia's new Karakurt-class corvette is an aggressive little warship
  • Russia's A2/AD strategy is a myth

Follow blog via e-mail

Featured

Russia’s military budget has nothing to do with the GDP of Spain

An often used reference to the GDP of Spain says nothing about Russia’s military potential. Instead, Russia’s defense budget gives them the same purchasing power as Germany, France, and the United Kingdom combined.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2019 · Romeo Squared

  • Air Force
  • Army
  • Navy
  • Russia
  • Military strategy
  • About
    ▲
    • Privacy Policy