Commander of Russia’s Pacific Fleet Admiral Viktor Liina has confirmed that the country's Antey 949A submarines are being modernized and will be equipped with new weapons.
Earlier, Sputnik’s source in the shipbuilding industry said that the subs would become the most heavily-armed undersurface vessels with up to 72 cruise missiles on board, including Kalibr, Oniks and Zircon missiles.
According to the commander, 949A subs will undertake military tasks similar to those done by Yasen-class submarines.
“The modernization of one submarine of Project 949 is underway; it will be equipped with a new missile system, new means of electronic warfare and communications, and there will be new utilities. It has another displacement volume, but it will solve tasks similar to Yasen subs”, Admiral Viktor Liina told Russian media.
Yasen multipurpose submarines are equipped with Kalibr and Oniks cruise missiles. In the future, their formidable arsenals will be enhanced with Zircon hypersonics that are specially designed to destroy enemy ships.
The Kalibr cruise missile rivals the most famous American Tomahawk projectiles, while Zircon missiles fly almost 11 times faster, despite being twice as heavy. Apart from Russia, only China, India and Iran possess such advanced hypersonic weaponry.