The Russian Navy command has made a decision on building one nuclear-powered multipurpose attack submarine a year from 2011, the Navy chief said on Sunday.
Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky said that construction of a second Project 885 Yasen (Graney) class nuclear-powered multipurpose attack submarine started at the Sevmash shipyard in northern Russia on July 24.
Vysotsky said the state currently had all possibilities, including economic and financial, to implement this project as soon as possible.
The Kazan submarine will feature more advanced equipment than the first vessel in the series - the Severodvinsk, which was laid down in 1992 and is scheduled to join the Russian navy in 2010 or early 2011 after a long delay for financial reasons.
"The second submarine will have improved electronics and fire-control systems, and will be built exclusively with Russian-made materials and components," Sevmash spokeswoman Anastasia Nikitinskaya earlier said.
The submarine's armament will include 24 cruise missiles, including the 3M51 Alfa SLCM, the SS-NX-26 Oniks SLCM or the SS-N-21 Granat/Sampson SLCM. It will also have eight torpedo tubes as well as mines and anti-ship missiles such as SS-N-16 Stallion.
Vysotsky also said that Russia would annually build warships and nuclear submarines for the Russian Black Sea Fleet stationed in Ukraine's Crimea.
"From 2010, we'll annually lay down one surface ship and one nuclear submarine for the Black Sea Fleet," he said.