Before, the US was confident it had the quietest and deadliest nuclear arsenal under the sea. Now, it seems the Russians have improved way too far their submarines; and the US Navy needs to know what they are up against.
The Russians are coming with the Yasen class
According to U.S. Air Force General Glen VanHerck, the head of U.S. Northern Command and the US-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command, Russian technology is on par with America but China is not far behind, reported The Drive.
These are silent cruise-missile-armed Russian submarines that are just as advanced and should not be ignored. He added that these are just a few of the Yasen-class guided-missile submarines. As of the moment, there are only a few of them but more will be constructed in the nex five years. Vanherck added they will be a danger that cannot be disregarded.
He also said that there two Sev class subs equal to what US has. In five years, there will be eight or nine Yasen subs in the Russian arsenal, which will be a real danger to the US coast.
The new Russian subs
According to the general, the Sev class vessel is the Kazan that entered service with the Russian Forces in May. Kazan is the second boat of the Project 885 Yasen-M class which serves as Russia's newest submarines. NATO was the one that code-named Severodvinsk class or Sev.
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The Severodvinsk is the initial sub of Project 885M that came after the Kazan (Yasen class). These subs are expected to be followed by four more subs. The specialized sub-class Yasen can do numerous missions.
Cruise-missile-capable subs can lob hypersonic weapons
One concern other than the existence of the Project 885M class is their ability to defend against cruise missiles. These subs are designed for that particular function. They are also enabled to counter advanced undersea weapon system effectively.
Severodvinsk is an original Project 885M Yasen-M class that is equipped with eight large payload tubes, which can use several configurations of vertical launch system (VLS) cells for several types of missiles. A rumor load of 40 Kalibre cruise missiles, for ship-killing, land attack, and even the Oniks ship-killer missile are options for the missile tubes, cited the Daily Advent.
The Zircon hypersonic cruise missile is speculated to be part of its loadout in the future. These missiles can fly at Mach 5 or faster that makes them hard to hit.
Yasen-M class is short by 40-feet and has eight large payloads of VLS tubes that allow a potent mix of current missiles or future variants ahile Sev has a large flank-mounted sonar array, which is not found on the Kazan or the following boats getting constructed.
The Severodvinsk is the only model of a Yasen-M sub-class that has an improved reactor plant and makes less noise compared to the Kazan underwater. Better and quiet, the Yasen and Yasen-M class are Russia's newest submarines that will surely make the US ponder.
