Russia may open another channel for arms exports
The share of sales of naval equipment and armaments Russia abroad is growing. This was stated by Director General of "Rosoboronexport" Anatoly Isaykin at the last in the Paris suburb of Le Bourget International Exhibition of naval equipment and armaments "Euronaval 2012". According to him, a well-established in the global market surface ships of the "Cheetah" and "Tiger" can join and submarine "Amur-950", designed in the Central Bureau for Marine Engineering "Rubin".
The basis of the combat power of the Soviet and then Russian Navy submarine missile were capable of massive volley of missiles with nuclear cover filling a potential enemy territory, located thousands of miles from the shores of our country. In essence, the concept of "nuclear fist" remains unchanged today, as evidenced by the construction in Severodvinsk "Sevmash" , each of which can carry a 16 to 20 ballistic missiles with a range greater than 8 kilometers. Perhaps this is justified. Big country — big ships. All the more so to defend, especially in the Arctic, .
However, there are a number of tasks for which large warships are contraindicated. And there are some countries that are very interested in a host of small submarines, with which they could restrain aggressive neighbor . But for such and such customers CDB "Ruby" and drafted a small submarine "Amur-950."
Unlike their predecessors, Russian — Kilo-class submarines and "Amur-1650", it has a much smaller displacement — about 1 million tons. But has ten universal vertical launchers missile system Club-S, which allows the boat to carry out missile salvo ten cruise missiles at sea and ground targets within no more than two minutes. Plus six torpedoes and mines. 50-foot boat can dive to a depth of 300 meters and stay there almost invisible and inaudible, as the level of the acoustic field at the "Amur-950" is several times lower than that of class submarines Kilo, which for its low noise dubbed "black holes in the ocean. "
If desired, the crew of "Amur-950", which has only 18 people can and do for two weeks did not rise to the surface to recharge batteries (submerged boat moves through the electric motors, which should at least once every two to three days to recharge from the work of diesel generators, surfacing). The fact that the boat provides the possibility of equipping its airindependent engine (VNEU) with electrochemical generators of domestic production, which can significantly increase its submerged endurance and cruising range. VNEU, of course, not new, and these devices offer equip submarines and German, and Swedish, and . However, in the deep conviction CEO of "Rubin" Igor Vilnita, energy capacity "Rubinovskii" installation "of the Amur-950" on the order exceeds the capacity of foreign competitors — 400 MW against 180 MW, and it is easier, cheaper and safer for the crew of the boat than foreign engineering solutions. For VNEU "Rubin" does not need to be installed on board the boat tanks with pure hydrogen because hydrogen is produced directly from the diesel fuel on board immediately utilized. This allows for the use of the infrastructure and VNEU those fuel reserves, which are used in diesel-electric submarines of classical settings. The process of making current for electric motors when submerged goes completely silent, which significantly increases the stealth submarine.
Therefore, the export potential of Russian small submarine "Amur-950", equipped with airindependent power plant, is not bad. Another thing that is not clear where to build it, if there will be foreign customers (the Russian Ministry of Defense, apparently, does not see the tasks that would be solved by small submarines). St. Petersburg "Admiralty Shipyards" argue that fully loaded with orders, including the construction of diesel-electric submarines (DES) Project 636 for the Navy in Vietnam and Russia. A second Soviet shipyard, which previously specialized in the construction and handed over a fleet of diesel-electric submarines for 10-12 boats a year — "Red Sormovo" (Nizhny Novgorod region) — is now building . Of course, the good and money, but in terms of complexity is not comparable to the construction of submarines.