They would better laid down few project 545 submarines instead of wasting money and time modernizing old Soviet subs. VMF badly needs new attack submarines.Akula-class (pr. 971 Shchuka-B) SSN Leopard (K-328) rolled out from the hall of the Zvezdochka Shipyard after modernization on 25.12.2020. Photo by Zvezdochka.
Russia is broke, building new subs costs Billions of $ they dont have.
They do actually lay down new nuclear subs. Problem is they build the wrong type. 6 Yasens would be enough to replace aging 949 subs. After that they would better focus on building project 545 as a replacement for aging 971.
The number of COVID deaths per capita in RF is 3 times lower than in lets say UK.
Hopefully not sold to China. Russia loses with transfer of technology to a rival at a time it can't afford it. It loses due to deterioration in relationship with the west. And West loses tech advantage over China. Caveats being the aircraft itself isn't an absolute donkey and that China would buy usual several tens of item rather than 10's of 100's which might offset the losses. I suppose it's a complex issue far beyond a few keystrokes here.
