Shipbuilding

Russian Navy rejects reports of plans to stop construction of Lada-class submarines

The Russian Navy has no plans to stop the construction of Lada-class non-nuclear submarines, Navy Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Vice-Admiral Alexander Fedotenkov said on Thursday. "Following the results of the operational testing of the Kronstadt and Velikiye Luki submarines, the Navy will determine its further quantitative need for the Project 677 Lada. The termination of these submarines’ construction is not being considered at present," he said. As some media sources reported earlier, the Navy’s financing will be focused on the Kalina project after the Kronstadt and Velikiye Luki submarines, while the construction of Project 677 Lada-class diesel electric submarines would be terminated. This year, the diesel electric submarines Veliky Novgorod and Kolpino completing the Project 636.3 series will be put afloat and transferred to the Black Sea Fleet.

Shipbuilding

Russia's Lada-class submarine project suffers further delays

The delivery of Russia's second and third Lada-class (Project 677) diesel-electric attack submarines will be delayed until 2019, according to Russian Navy and defence industry sources.

Admiralty Shipyard, which builds the submarines, has had its contract for the project changed as a result, the company's first deputy director general, Andrei Bystrov, stated.

A source in the Russian Navy Main Staff explained that the slowed construction of the second and third submarines was so that "due account [is] taken of the shortcomings revealed during the Northern Fleet's operation of the Project 677 lead ship, St Petersburg ". In addition, although the Russian Navy has planned for the class to be fitted with an air-independent propulsion plant (AIP), this will now not be the case as development of an AIP has been pushed back beyond 2020. "We have to wait until it [AIP] has passed its sea trials," the naval staff source said.

Shipbuilding

Sorry, France: Russia to Build Powerful Mistral-Style Assault Ships

Russia will build its own amphibious assault ship in the wake of France refusing to sell Moscow two Mistral-class helicopter carriers.

In 2011, France and Russia signed a $1.5 billion deal for Paris to build two Mistral-class amphibious assault ships for Russia. The ships have already been built and the first one was scheduled to be delivered last November, but France pulled out of the agreement at the last minute over Russia’s role in the Ukraine crisis.