Navy

Submarine defense: Russian subs posing Pacific threat to US Navy

According to Head of the US Pacific Command Admiral Harry Harris, Russia is a Pacific threat and the program of modernizing its Navy “signals the seriousness with which Moscow views this region.”

“Ships and submarines of the Russian Pacific Fleet and long range aircraft routinely demonstrate Russia’s message that it is a Pacific power,” the US admiral said.

Admiral Harris who spoke during hearings in the US Senate Committee on Armed Services in February this year expressed his concern that the US Pacific Command lacked a sufficient number of submarines for operations in that region. The US admiral noted that Russia was modernizing its existing fleet of Antey-class (NATO reporting name: Oscar-2) third-generation multipurpose submarines, producing their next generation Yasen-class nuclear-powered submarines and homeported its newest Dolgoruky-class SSBN (the Project 955 Borei-class lead underwater missile cruiser) in the Pacific, significantly enhancing its strategic deterrence posture.