Project 677: Lada/Amur(export) class Submarine

"Lada" polar: the newest submarine will replenish the Northern Fleet in the fall, by Roman Kretsul for Izvestia. 24.07.2022.

Silent boat "Kronstadt" will cover submarine strategic missile carriers.

The underwater "black hole" - that's what the Navy calls this submarine - will replenish the Northern Fleet in the fall. The Ministry of Defense approved a plan for the transfer of the Kronstadt submarine of Project 677 Lada to the Navy. She is currently being tested. By the end of autumn, the submarine must make the transition to Polyarny, where it will join the brigade of submarines of the Northern Fleet. Today, the Kronstadt is considered the quietest boat in its class - it is capable of hitting underwater and surface targets, including Caliber and Onyx missiles. Experts believe that in the North, Kronstadt will be able to solve several tasks at once, including covering strategic missile carriers.

Heading North

The Ministry of Defense has approved a plan for the transfer of the unique Kronstadt submarine of Project 677 to the Navy, sources in the military department told Izvestia. According to the interlocutors of the editorial office, the submarine is currently undergoing factory tests.

Already at the end of summer - the beginning of autumn, the submarine should make the transition to the Murmansk region. There, the submarine is waiting for additional tests, which should be completed before the end of autumn. After passing them, Kronstadt will become part of the submarine brigade of the Northern Fleet.

“Today, the 161st submarine brigade of the Northern Fleet consists mainly of Project 877 boats,” military historian Dmitry Boltenkov told Izvestia. - Two of them - "Vladikavkaz" and "Kaluga" - were modernized in the 2010s, but in general they are outdated boats, and it's time to just write them off. The 161st brigade performs important tasks - ensuring the deployment of the main forces of the Northern Fleet in the Barents Sea - submarine strategic missile carriers, surface warships. In the context of deteriorating relations between Russia and NATO, it is necessary to supply the Northern Fleet not only with nuclear submarines, but also with diesel ones.

In addition to covering the main forces of the fleet, the tasks of the submarines of the 677th project will include anti-submarine operations in the North Atlantic, the expert added.

Protracted streak

The Lada series became the development of the 877 Halibut project. These submarines have a displacement of 1.8 thousand tons, a speed of up to 21 knots and a diving depth of more than 300 m. So far, the Navy has only the lead ship of the 677th series - the submarine "St. Petersburg", built in 2010. Two years ago, it underwent modernization and can use torpedoes, missiles and mines, operate in the near and middle sea zone, hit both surface and underwater targets. At the end of 2021, she became part of the 161st submarine brigade of the Northern Fleet. In February, the St. Petersburg boat took part in large-scale maneuvers in the Mediterranean Sea, where she came with a detachment of ships from the Northern Fleet. As Izvestia reported, the exercises took place in conditions close to combat.

The Kronstadt boat was laid down in 2005, but in 2009 its construction was suspended. In 2013, the submarine continued to be built, but according to an updated project. It was equipped with an improved navigation system and a more powerful and quieter electric propulsion system. The ship's arsenal now includes Caliber cruise missiles, which it can launch through torpedo tubes.

In February, the general director of JSC Admiralty Shipyards, Alexander Buzakov, said that Kronstadt was "somewhat delayed due to problems with contractors."

In addition to the Kronstadt, this year it is planned to transfer to the fleet another Project 677 boat, the Velikiye Luki. In addition, two more ships, Vologda and Yaroslavl, were laid down at the Admiralty Shipyards last June.

The Lada project turned out to be quite difficult for the developers, Dmitry Boltenkov also noted.

- But in the end, "St. Petersburg" brought to mind. Project 677 ships can now fire Kalibr cruise missiles. So, in addition to the tasks of covering the main forces and anti-submarine operations in the North Atlantic, these submarines will be able to perform the third round of tasks - to hit ground and surface targets, the expert summed up.

Without noise and dust

One of the two divisions of strategic submarine missile carriers, the 31st, is serving in the Northern Fleet of Russia. The ships included in it regularly go on combat duty. As Izvestia previously reported, it is to this formation that the latest strategic submarines of project 955 Borey and 955A Borey-A are being built as they are built. This decision was made based on the results of the maneuvers. During the exercises, three submarines simultaneously rose to the surface in the Arctic, breaking through a layer of ice one and a half meters thick. As Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Admiral Nikolai Evmenov reported to the President, the ascent in a limited area with a radius of 300 m was made for the first time in the history of the Russian fleet. Besides, according to the developers, due to new technical solutions, the visibility of the Lad is already lower than that of the diesel-electric submarines (DEPL) of Project 636.3 Varshavyanka now being mass-produced. After the installation of an air-independent power plant, their noise level will be below the background level in the sea. That is, it will be almost impossible to detect them.

Initially, it was announced that an advanced air-independent power plant (VNEU) would be developed for Lada. With it, the submarine could move for a long time without surfacing. It was planned to equip modern Ladas with an engine with an electrochemical generator developed by the Rubin Central Design Bureau of MT, and hydrogen would be produced from diesel fuel and oxygen. But the development of this engine has not yet been completed, which has led to delays in the construction of boats. In 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Rubin signed a new contract to continue work, which is scheduled to be completed by the mid-2020s.

https://iz.ru/1369621/roman-kretcul/lada-zapoliarnaia-noveishaia-submarina-uzhe-oseniu-popolnit-severnyi-flot

The AIP technology the Russians are working on is revolutionary, and has a few features that make it really amazing.

First of all it generates rather more electricity than standard hydrogen fuel cells generate so if they could get it to work properly it would actually be a more viable solution than the units the Japanese were using, and secondly it could be applied not just to submarines but also aircraft and motor vehicles... everything that currently uses fossil fuels really.

The point is that trillions are currently invested in the extraction and refining and production and also transport and storing and handling of hydrocarbons that is not in place for hydrogen and oxygen which are the two separate components needed for hydrogen fuel cells to be viable.

If they can work out some method of collecting and storing the solid carbon byproduct from their process this will be immensely important for the world.

Imagine a fuel cell that ran on petrol or diesel or kerosene or benzine or any other hydrocarbon... you could keep buying from your local fuel station and use all the existing fuel stations without modification... but when your AIP consumed the fuel the carbon is not released into the atmosphere as carbon monoxide, but created a lump of solid carbon that you could sell to the fuel station to offset the cost of your fuel... solid carbon has value and could be used in making carbon fibre and carbon nanotubes and other uses.

I rather suspect that for the time being it would make sense to just make extra lithium ion batteries and use those, but new battery technologies are being developed all the time and the next breakthrough might make all battery powered SSKs that only have to charge up once every two months... or some small AIP unit that can charge the batteries in a few minutes.

It seems the low energy output of the western AIPs means if you are running the sub and using the AIPs to also charge the batteries that it can take days to get a full charge, which is why Japan decided that 30 minutes near the surface with a snorkle fast charging the batteries was more useful than spending a day being pretty much useless while the batteries were charged where you couldn't move fast or run all the electronics onboard...

In the technology and innovation thread they mentioned funding factories to not just make lithium ion cells, but also reprocess used cells to recycle their components and put them to good use.

There was also a mention of new graphene technology that offered the potential for batteries of high efficiency that would retain their charge at minus 50 degrees C, though that is more important for land and air based vehicles than in a submarine or ship.