USNI News – Russia’s latest super-sized submarine, Belgorod, has been a conundrum for interested observers. While its existence is far from secret, Moscow has gone to great pains to keep certain key details out of the public domain. While navies traditionally hide the screw, or propeller, from the cameras, in Belgorod’s case the reverse was true: the screws were on display at the 2019 launch ceremony, but no photographs of the forward section were ever published.

Naval News – The Belgorod nuclear-powered special mission submarine of project 09852 is preparing to sail out for the first time.

Sandboxx – What may surprise you is that amateur submarines were really a consolation prize for drug smugglers out of Colombia. Their first choice? An actual Soviet Foxtrot-class submarine. What’s even crazier, however, is that the Russians seemed to be more than happy to sell them one.

Naval News – The Buyan-M-class corvette (project 21631) “Graivoron” was commissioned with the Russian Navy Black Sea fleet on 30 January 2021.

(Thanks to Alain)

War Zone – An advanced electrically-powered torpedo has entered service with the Russian Navy, marking the first time the service has introduced a new weapon of this type since the Soviet era.

Barents Observer – Vladimir Putin’s Russia is indeed seriously going to deploy a new leg to its nuclear triad, the unmanned underwater nuclear-powered Poseidon. A multi-billion storage and maintenance facility at the Kola Peninsula will be up and running by June 2022, aimed at serving at least 30 such drones.

Naval News – The Russian Navy is preparing to accept hypersonic air ballistic Kinzhal missile into service. In particular, the naval aviation of the Northern fleet will be armed with it. The missile can hit a target with a high precision in minutes and no country has reliable defense against it.

War Zone – While refit work on Russia’s aging aircraft carrier seems to have slowed, its two new amphibious assault ships are set to grow even bigger.

Barents Observer – Russia is building a coastal base for its unmanned underwater “doomsday nuke” to extend its lifespan.

War Zone – The Russian Navy says that a former commander of the now-decommissioned Sovremenny class destroyer Bespokoynyy conspired with others and stole the ship’s two bronze propellers while it was in dry dock being converted into a floating museum. The alleged caper sounds like it was ripped straight from the plot of a comedic Hollywood heist movie, with the thieves reportedly swapping out the pair of screws, each weighing approximately 13 tons, for ones made out of a cheaper metal.

Naval News – The Russian shipbuilding industry properly performed in 2020 and supplied eight warships and two submarines to the Navy. In 2019, which was free of coronavirus problems, the Navy received six warships and one submarine

Barents Observer – Government developers call for the building of Russian cruise vessels that can bring wealthy travelers to the far northern Franz Josef Land.

Naval News – Successful trials of hypersonic Tsirkon missile shadowed the completion of acceptance tests of the antisubmarine Otvet missile complex.

BMPD – The Independent Military Review published an interview with Igor Vilnit, General Director of the Rubin Central Design Bureau of Marine Engineering.

(Thanks to Alain)

Barents Observer – Hardly ever before has a ship with such a peculiar shape been rolled out of the Admiralty Yard in St.Petersburg. On the 18th December, the stout 83 meter long vessel made it onto the water of the Neva River. It is met with great expectation by Russia’s increasingly numerous Arctic research community.

TASS – Russia’s latest nuclear-powered submarine Kazan will complete all state trials by the end of the year, Northern Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Alexander Moiseyev told the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.

(Thanks to Alain)

Barents Observer – Russia’s construction of nuclear-powered submarines hits post-Soviet peak. 15 sub are currently at different stages of readiness at the shipyard in Severodvinsk.

National Interest – Most recently, there has been a growing consensus that the Husky class is less of a pure attack submarine and more of a multi-purpose vessel that can fill several roles depending on its loadout.

(Thanks to Alain)

RUSI – Russia is planning to expand its naval power projection on the Red Sea.

Barents Observer – The Northern Fleet’s aircraft carrier will embark on tests in the Barents Sea in 2022 with main boilers, diesel generators and main turbo-gear units replaced.

BMPD – Novorossiysk naval base hosted celebrations on the rise of St. Andrew’s flag and reception in the ship of the Black Sea fleet of new patrol ship “Pavel Derzhavin” – the third in a series of ship project 22160.

(Thanks to Alain)

BBC – Russia says one of its warships caught and chased off a US Navy destroyer after it entered territorial waters in the Sea of Japan on Tuesday.

Naval News – The speech of the Russian president at Valdai discussion club contained interesting statements on the state and prospects of the check-and-balance system to prevent a large-scale armed standoff of superpowers. He spoke about military cooperation of Russia and China. In case they create a military union, each party will have to contribute to it.

Defense News – Russia will establish a naval logistic center and repair yard in Sudan under a new agreement signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Nov. 6 but just made public this week.

Navy Recognition – According to information published by the Russian press agency TASS on October 29, 2020, the latest Pantsir-M air defense missile system onboard the Odintsovo corvette of project 22800 successfully repelled a massive air and cruise missile strike. It downed all targets at various distances. Experts believe the launchers will make Russian warships a difficult target for airstrikes, the Izvestia daily writes.

(Thanks to Alain)