New Russian spy-sub operates in northern waters
The Barents Observer is reporting that Russia’s top-secret special purpose submarine, B-90 Sarov, is reportedly operating in northern waters from the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet bases on the Kola Peninsula.
The first details about the brand new spy-sub were revealed in 2007 when a city official in the city of Sarov inadvertently posted detailed information about the sub’s existence on the city’s own website. That info was quickly removed, but too late to stop the info from being circulated. Afterwards, both the Russian navy and the defence ministry denied the existence of the new submarine, only named by its project number 20120.
According to other Russian news services, the submarine is a technology demonstrator. Sarov was once the secretive closed city Arzamas-16, also known as the Russian Los Alamos for its role in the Soviet nuclear weapons program.
The spy-sub B-90 Sarov was built in Nizhny Novgorod, but transported via Russia’s inner waterways, to the Sevmash yard in Severodvinsk where it was equipped with its engines and nuclear reactor. During the Cold War, the Northern fleet operated several special purpose submarines aimed for underwater spy operations.
One of the unique features of the spy-sub is its ultra-small nuclear reactor aimed to charge the subs batteries, so it can stay much longer underwater, totally silent, than normal diesel-electric submarines. This is most important for a submarine aimed for spy-voyages not to be detected by foreign vessels, submarines, or detection systems on the seabed.
Though nuclear submarine construction is well-established at the Sevmash shipyards in Severodvinsk, Sarov could be a site for further research into the use of radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs). RTGs use the heat of radioactive decay from radioisotopes like plutonium-238 and strontium-90 to generate electricity. They are much simpler than full-fledged naval reactors and have been used to power remote lighthouses and weather stations as well as deep space probes unable to rely on solar energy.
Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) is a term that encompasses technologies which allow a submarine to operate without the need to surface or use a snorkel to access atmospheric oxygen. A successful AIP uniquely suited to the Russian defense industry is a potentially significant development for the next generation of Russian patrol subs – both for domestic coastal defense and export abroad.
The specifications of the submarine are:
Length: 72.6m
Width: 9.9m
Draught: 7m
Displacement: 2300/3950 tons
Diving depth: 300m
Speed: 10/17 kts
Endurance: 45 days
The submarine requires a crew of 52.
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