Two Russian design bureaus began developing unmanned underwater vehicles for deployment by fifth-generation submarines, an official representative of the United Shipbuilding Corporation told RIA Novosti on Friday.

"The Rubin and Malakhit [design bureaus] are involved in the development. The decision to equip these devices and assigning them tasks will be taken during the layout shaping of the fifth-generation submarines," the official said.

The new nuclear submarines are expected to have advanced stealth, noise-reduction, automated reconnaissance and warning systems, Russian Navy's Commander-in-Chief Adm. Viktor Chirkov said last fall.

"They will be released from the submarine for environmental monitoring using different hardware or to attack the enemy. Torpedoes can be used as a weapon on these carriers. We are calling them underwater robots for now," the official added.

The Sevmash shipyard in northern Russia said in July that the construction of fifth-generation nuclear-powered submarines could begin by 2020.

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Construction of Last Lada-Class Submarines to Be Completed in 2018-2019
Construction of the Sankt Peterburg, the lead ship of the Project 677, began in December 1997. It was introduced into the Navy for trial operations in April 2010. Two other ships of the class have already been laid down.

"The two Lada-class Project 677 submarines will be delivered as scheduled - in 2018 and 2019," the spokesman told RIA Novosti.

"Then the construction of the new non-nuclear Kalina-class submarines will be launched," he added.

Air-independent, closed cycle submarines, which usually use hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells, are quieter than conventional diesel-electric boats and do not have to surface or use snorkel tubes to breathe air, thereby exposing themselves to detection by radar and other sensors.

Source: Sputnik News