Key point: This wouldn’t be the first time costs concerns have ended a Russian navy program.
Russia’s fourth-generation Borei-class was conceived in the early 1980’s as a great leap forward in Russian submarine technology; a new, modern design over its aging Delta and Typhoon predecessors. Armed with nuclear-capable Bulava missiles, the Borei line was meant to guarantee the submarine component of Russia’s nuclear triad for decades to come.
Approximately four decades after its inception, what has the Borei project accomplished? What are its prospects?
Whereas many other Russian modernization efforts involve iterative updates to Soviet-era weapons, the Borei class–or Project 955–represents an entirely new design concept. In fact, the Russian Navy entertained but eventually cancelled its Typhoon modernization project due to cost concerns.
In envisioning the next generation of Russian submarines, Russian engineers set out to make the Borei line significantly smaller and lighter than the Typhoon while carrying a more destructive payload. This, they accomplished in spades: Borei is twice as light as Typhoon at 24,000 against 48,000 tons, has a significantly smaller beam (ship width), and travels at a marginally faster speed.
Borei submarines offer these advancements in handling and maneuverability even as they accommodate a much more powerful payload. As previously reported by The National Interest, the RSM-56 “Bulava” is a 550 kiloton (kT) nuclear-capable warhead guided by a GLONASS-powered inertial navigation system. Specially designed for the Borei line, Bulava dwarfs Typhoon’s 100 kT R-39 Rif ballistic missiles.
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