The newest submarine of the Russian Federation “lit up” near Cuba, it has worried NATO for years, – BI

The boat arrived accompanied by two warships as part of planned exercises.

One of Russia’s new submarines “lit up” off the coast of Cuba , which causes the greatest concern in NATO. He is there on the eve of planned military exercises.

Russia sent a submarine to the shores of Cuba / Reuters illustration

As Business Insider writes , the nuclear submarine with cruise missiles “Kazan” is from a relatively new class. These submarines have worried US and Western militaries for years because of their stealth and strike capabilities.

Three Russian ships, as well as the Kazan, arrived in Cuba on Wednesday for a five-day official visit ahead of major simultaneous air and sea exercises in the Caribbean. The deployment includes the Admiral Gorshkov frigate, which is armed with hypersonic Zircon missiles, another challenge for Western militaries.

Powers of “Kazan”

Although US officials have said they are monitoring the vessels and do not expect imminent danger in the region, the Kazan’s arrival is a notable event. US and NATO officials have long expressed concern about the capabilities of the submarine and other similar submarines. Russian Yasen-class submarines, like Kazan, pose a serious threat. The Russians began work on the class during the Cold War, and the first submarine of this class, Severodvinsk, was commissioned in late 2013.

Around the time Severodvinsk appeared, the executive officer of the Naval Submarine Systems Command told a naval symposium that the U.S. “will face serious potential adversaries” in the future, adding that “one only has to look at “Severodvinsk”.

After “Severodvinsk” was introduced into the Russian fleet, the following submarines had updated designs. “Kazan” was the second submarine of this class, but the first of the new modernized submarines. It is significantly smaller and has a quieter nuclear reactor.

Newer and more advanced submarine features make them quiet, difficult to track, well armed, and capable of attacking land and sea targets with virtually no warning. These warships can carry Onyx and Caliber cruise missiles, and later the new Zircon missiles. The change in capabilities with the appearance of Yasen-M class submarines led to a change in their use. According to a 2021 analysis by the Royal Joint Forces Institute, “Kazan’s ability to launch a range of anti-ship and surface-to-surface missiles” suggests that “long-range strike missions appear to be replacing maritime lock-on lines of communication (SLOC) as the primary task”.

In 2021, U.S. Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerk, head of the U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said the submarines “are designed to be deployed undetected within the range of cruise missiles of our coastlines to threaten critical infrastructure during an escalating crisis.”

VanHerk, along with other U.S. officials, said the Yasen-class submarines were “on par with ours” and repeatedly warned of an increased presence of these vessels off the U.S. coast.

Why did “Kazan” appear near Cuba?

In total, Russia plans to build at least nine Yasen submarines, but there are indications that there may be more in the future.

The deployment of the Russian army in Cuba serves many purposes. It comes ahead of Caribbean air and sea exercises, the first that Russia has conducted in the area since 2019. They serve to strengthen Russian-Cuban ties. And this is a demonstration of strength against the background of the war in Ukraine.

Tensions are particularly high after the US tentatively agreed to allow Ukraine to use its long-range weapons to strike targets inside Russia.

U.S. officials said moving these vessels to the area was not a direct response to those events or escalation, noting that Cuba hosted Russian ships every year from 2013 to 2020 and that Russian exercises are routine.

However, the ships of this group are among the most advanced in Russia or have newer weapons. In the past, NATO officials have singled out the Yasen-class submarines as “one of the great strategic challenges” facing the Alliance.

Russian fleet near Cuba

We will remind, earlier UNIAN wrote that on June 12, a Russian naval flotilla arrived in Cuba – this is the first such visit since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

A Russian nuclear-powered submarine and three warships were reported to fire a 21-gun salute across the Gulf of Havana to welcome the island’s communist government.

(C)UNIAN 2024