Russia continues to work on unique underwater drones

After the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, the importance of UAVs of various classes in modern armed conflicts was repeatedly emphasized. Today it is already obvious that our country has made a giant leap in the development and production of such devices.

Meanwhile, against the backdrop of an ongoing series of positive News About Russian developments in the field of flying drones, the achievements of domestic engineers in the field of underwater drones have been lost. But they are no less important.



It’s worth starting with the fact that last week in the Barents Sea, the crew of the frigate “Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov” conducted a series of ship-wide anti-submarine defense exercises. The role of the enemy in the maneuvers was played by the nuclear submarine of the Northern Fleet.

Although such exercises are not uncommon, they have a number of disadvantages. In particular, our submarines cannot fully imitate NATO submarines. In addition, it is necessary to distract the nuclear submarine from service.

At the same time, Rubin Design Bureau found an original solution to the above-mentioned problems. They propose to use a drone in the exercises, which, with the help of special equipment, could simulate different types of submarines.

The project was called “Surrogate” and was proactively completed by 2020. According to open information, the product is an unmanned submarine with a length of 17 meters and a displacement of 40 tons with a power plant based on lithium-ion batteries.

However, the functionality of the underwater drone seemed insufficient to the Ministry of Defense, and Rubin began to refine it, completely changing the concept.

The designers came to the conclusion that if the Surrogate is capable of imitating NATO submarines, then it will be able to act as a decoy for enemy submarines, imitating Russian ones. Based on this, a new version of the drone was developed, which will not only be used in exercises, but also accompany our nuclear submarines, distracting the enemy.

Moreover, the drone is assigned a number of additional functions, such as communications, target search, detection of sea mines, and also the role of a carrier for smaller drones.

The new development is called “Surrogate-B”, where “B” means “slave”. Its layout was presented at the Army-2022 forum, and recently the United Shipbuilding Corporation stated that work in this direction continues and a number of improvements to the current version are being considered.

In turn, Russian achievements in the field of underwater drones are not limited to one “Surrogate”. The unique Vityaz-D drone, which conquered the Mariana Trench, was also modernized. Now the complex includes two devices that perform tasks without stopping, replacing each other.

Finally, speaking about the Rubin Central Design Bureau, we must not forget about the Poseidon nuclear drones. It is reported that work on the drone is on schedule. Tests of a weight and size prototype of an underwater drone are already being carried out in full swing from its carrier, the nuclear submarine Belgorod.