Kalina Class 5th Gen conventional submarine

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Russian Navy Unveils New Class of Submarines​

A prospective series of Russia's new fifth-generation conventional submarine equipped with an advanced air-independent propulsion system will be designated the Kalina-class, the commander of the country's navy said Wednesday.

"Russia is currently designing a fifth-generation conventional submarine, dubbed Project Kalina, which will be fitted with an air-independent propulsion (AIP) system," Adm. Viktor Chirkov said.

"Our industry promises to develop this AIP system by 2017 and build the first boat fitted with such a system by 2018," Chirkov said.

The admiral earlier said that the new AIP system could be initially tested on the only operational Lada-class diesel-electric submarine in service with the navy, the St. Petersburg, which is undergoing sea trials in the Barents Sea after a series of design changes.

Air-independent power plants offer significant advantages over diesel-electric submarines, which must surface regularly to recharge their batteries, and nuclear submarines, which must continually run noisy pumps to cool their reactors.

Submarines with such systems can stay submerged for weeks at a time and are already in operation with a number of navies around the world. The United States has so far not employed the technology, however, in favor of the longer endurance and range of nuclear submarines.

Russian Navy Unveils New Class of Submarines | Defense | RIA Novosti

 

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Russia May Sell China Its New Advanced Submarines
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Russia is developing a new advanced submarine class and may sell them to China, according to reports in Russia's media.

Last week, the head of Russia's Navy, Adm. Viktor Chirkov, announced that Russia would build new fifth-generation submarines dubbed the Kalina-class.

"Russia is currently designing a fifth-generation conventional submarine, dubbed Project Kalina, which will be fitted with an air-independent propulsion (AIP) system," Adm. Viktor Chirkov said, according to Russian media outlets.

"Our industry promises to develop this AIP system by 2017 and build the first boat fitted with such a system by 2018," he added.

The report did not specify what type of AIP technology would be used.

Submarines equipped with AIP technologies offer significant advantages over conventional diesel-electric engines and even nuclear submarines. AIP systems allow submarines to stay submerged far longer than diesel-electric submarines, which must surface more frequently for oxygen, and thus give away their positions to potential adversaries.

On the other hand, submarines with AIP systems are much stealthier than nuclear-powered submarines, which must constantly run pumps to cool their nuclear reactors. This pump emits noises that can be used by adversaries to detect the submarine's presence and location. Thus, AIP-powered submarines can stay submerged for long periods of time while remaining virtually silent.


Thus, in no way has this been officially announced by the Russian government. Moreover, Moscow may be floating the idea simply as another way of pressuring the United States over its reaction to Russia's annexation of the Crimea. Still, selling China the new submarines would further enhance Beijing's growing undersea fleet, especially if China used the submarines to reverse engineer its own vessels based on Russia's technology.

Russia May Sell China New Advanced Submarines - Business Insider