The Russian Borei Class nuclear powered submarine began development in the waning years of the Soviet Union, but due to the chaos that followed the superpower’s collapse the first ship was only commissioned by the Navy in 2013. The latest variants of the 24,000 ton ships deploy 16 RSM-56 intercontinental range ballistic missiles (ICBM), each of which can carry up to ten nuclear warheads, alongside six 533mm torpedo tubes, and are relied on to provide Russia with a second stage nuclear deterrent to complement both bombers and ground based ICBMs in delivering strategic nuclear attacks on enemy territories.  Entering service from 2018, each RSM-56 had a range estimated at between 9000km to significantly over 10,000km. While ten of the ships were originally planned, the possibility of expanding the fleet due to ongoing tensions with the Western Bloc has been raised and was speculated in the past. Vladimir Pospelov of the Russian Military-Industrial Commission stated regarding this possibility “the series could be continued” as “the project has shown itself to be successful and has good prospects for modernisation.” Pospelov did not clarify how many further ships were under consideration, but the tenth was expected to be delivered by the end of 2027 – the year which will mark the conclusion of Russia’s current state armaments plan. 

Russia commissioned its first Borei II Class submarine in the final week of May 2020, which is an improved variant of the ship design intended to replace the Soviet built 1 Delfin Class and 6 Kalmar Class ships currently in service. Unlike the original Borei Class ship design, the Borei II were built from the outset for the purpose of strategic nuclear deterrence – where the older variants were built by combining hull sections from the Akula Class and Oscar Class submarines which resulted from the disordered state of Russia’s defence sector in the post-Soviet years. The Borei II Class ships also had greater firepower than the older variants with 16 rather than 12 ICBMs. Borei Class submarines can remain submerged for over a year, with their endurance limited only by the quantities of food onboard, which makes them very difficult to locate and allows them to launch nuclear strikes from almost anywhere in international waters if given the order. 

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