According to H. I. Sutton, an author and an expert on submarine warfare, the smaller size of the Yasen-M is intended to reduce construction costs. “Because of general improvements in technology the newer boats are unlikely to be any less capable than the original design, except perhaps in terms of passive sonar due to the reduced flank arrays.”
The Yasen-M reportedly also includes a new reactor that features an updated cooling system that is said to further reduce the noise the submarine generates.
With that in mind, despite the decrease in size, the Yasen-M is likely to be a significant development for the Russian Navy, providing a means to potentially build more submarines, more cheaply, even if they have slightly reduced capabilities in other regards.
In the past, The War Zone has explained how a combination of Yasen or Yasen-M class and the 1,500-mile range Kalibr cruise missiles could present a particular threat to a wide range of potential targets across Scandanavia and northern Europe, as well as Iceland, deploying at short notice from Northern Fleet bases. Operating in the North Atlantic, these SSGNs could also hold targets to risk on the U.S. East Coast, as well as within an area that was previously considered a “safe haven” for U.S. Navy ships and submarines.
The way these submarines launch their missiles is also different from their predecessors, which had angled launch silos. The Yasen classes are based around modular-type launch VLS cylinders that can accommodate different missile types as required. This also opens up the possibility of launching missiles without even leaving port, something that the Severodvinsk has done on at least one occasion.
And, of course, these vessels are hard to find. A War Zone source disclosed that, back in 2019, a large number of U.S. Navy submarines, warships, and maritime patrol aircraft spent weeks in an unsuccessful effort to locate the Severodvinsk in the North Atlantic.
“The Yasen may represent the pinnacle of Russian SSN design, benefiting not only from all the information from the Walker Spy Ring but the considerable technological advances that have occurred since the end of the Cold War,” explained Peter Hennessy and James Jinks in their book The Silent Deep.
Among others, the fact the Yasen design is so quiet and difficult to detect and track has spurred the U.S. Navy to begin looking at developing a new Seawolf-like advanced attack submarine.
The Severodvinsk joined the fleet after President Vladimir Putin had announced in 2011 plans to overhaul all branches of the military by adding around $360 billion to the defense budget. That project began to be derailed amid a serious economic crisis in Russia, including the collapse in the value of the rouble in 2015. At that point, the average age of the submarines within the Northern Fleet was 22 years.
Since then, for the Russian Navy, in particular, large-scale programs have been scaled back or even axed entirely.
Faced with this new economic reality, the scope of the SSGN renewal plan has been revised accordingly. As of 2015, four Yasen boats were reportedly under construction with Sevmash, with plans for another three to join them by 2023.
Now it seems unlikely there will be any more Yasens and instead, the focus is on the Yasen-M, at least eight of which are planned. A second Yasen-M, Novosibirsk, was reportedly engaged in sea trials in June 2020. While they may have been conceived as successors to the Oscar class SSGNs, the Yasens are far more versatile than simple cruise missile slingers, able to operate as general-purpose attack boats as well as intelligence gatherers and potentially as a special missions platform.
Of course, the new SSGN type is just one part of the wider modernization of the Russian Navy nuclear-powered submarine force, a process that has been moving at a glacial pace so far. However, by the end of the year, the service is expected to take into service the first revised Borei-A class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, the Knyaz Oleg, originally due to enter service back in 2017, plus the second Yasen-M class boat, the Novosibirsk.
It has been a long time coming, but the much-needed overhaul of the Russian Navy’s mainly Cold War-era nuclear-powered submarine fleet is finally starting to show progress on all fronts.
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