The boats of the project were given personal names, so K-317 was dubbed ‘Pantera’. The first submarine built in Severodvinsk, K-480, received the name ‘Bars’, which soon became the class name of all nuclear-powered ships of Project 971. Commander S. V. Efremenko became the first captain of Bars. In December 1997, at the request of the Republic of Tatarstan, Bars was renamed ‘Ak-Bars’. Some years ago, the attack submarine Gepard was commissioned at Severodvinsk. In 1996, the submarine cruiser Vepr was commissioned at Severodvinsk. She had a new design of the pressure hull and different ‘stuffing’ at the same time retaining the shape of its class. Besides, with her another major advance was made in noise reduction. In the West this sub and the subsequent SSNs of Project 971 were designated Akula-II. Integrated automation cut the crew to 73 (31 officers), that was almost twice as less than that of the American Los Angeles class sub (141 men).

According to some US experts, the degree of stealth of the improved sub of Project 971 has caught up with that of the US Navy multi-purpose fourth generation submarine Seawolf (SSN-21). Speed, diving depth and ordnance make these ships approximately peer. Between December 1995 and February 1996, K-461 Volk (manned by the complement from K-317 Pantera under the orders of captain S. Spravtsev and captain V. Korolyov, assistant division commander acting as senior officer on board), had been operating in the Mediterranean Sea to provide long-distance anti-submarine support for the Admiral Kuznetsov heavy aircraft carrying cruiser. The mission included long-term tracking of several NATO submarines, including an American SSN of the Los Angeles class. According to US Navy sources, at tactical speeds 5-7 knots the acoustic quietness of Improved Akula class boats searched by sonars was lower than that of the most advanced US Navy SSNs such as the Improved Los Angeles class. The then chief of US naval operations Admiral Jeremy Boorda said that the American ships were not able to track the Improved Akula at a speed less than 6 to 9 knots (the new Russian boat was eventually contacted in the spring 1995 off the eastern coast of the USA). According to the Adm. J. M. Boorda, the low noise acoustic profile of the improved Akula-II met the requirements of forth generation subs.

http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/88/351/13258_submarine.html

If you dont believe that one check here!

http://www.nti.org/e_research/e3_74.html
Same sub!

Plus they have a Torpedo with a 60 mile range! The link is above, as well as link where a Russian sub sold to the Chinese surprised the Kitty Hawk and all her protective vessels!

They even have a newer sub. works of air independent propulsion driven by hydrogen fuel cell technology!
Can stay submerged for up to 50 days!

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/677-specs.htm

If you cant find it you cant kill it!

They have a new stealth missile frigate too.
Rated best in the world!!

Still not impressed. Do you not think for a moment that we sneak up on them as well? I have pictures of a Bear that flew by us, escorted by three F-14's. We also have the Phoenix missile system. They don't have anything comparable. Russian spy ships disguised as fishing trawlers used to steam up alongside us on a regular basis and when as close as they could safely come, the antenna's would pop out and the sailors would run on deck with cameras clicking. A group of us mooned them one day in the Mediterranean off Greece. You won't see the Russians publish OUR surprises though.

And your point being? We still have greater tech and electronics. We are currently upgrading the sonar equipment on our sea hawk helicopters to better find subs. We have over 10X their funding. We have unmanned aircrafts that can see anywhere in the world in a matter of minutes, stealth bombers, the A-10 is getting a major overhaul, and so on.

Where is the great and powerfull United Nations that I hear the majority of you squaking about? And Georgia has only two thousand troops on the ground for political reasons. It sounds a lot like the people who call the U.S. cowards couldn't give a crap about the U.S. until their own country where their true loyalties lie come under attack and then its okay to go to war. Feel free to go back and defend your motherland Comrade. I would defend the United States if it happened. Let me know how that works out for you.

Uh, ever hear of sonabuoys? Anti-submarine aircraft? Subrocs? A nuclear sub is on patrol, stocked with food and hopefully enough toilet paper for up to six months submerged. We saw how their nuclear program worked. Their game, as it has always been, is quantity over quality.

Yea, I will be working on the Sea/Knighthawks. Might even be testing the sonar.

Don't worry about Gary numerous names and differing gender profiles, aka his newest one. Zero credibility.

You are talking old school.
There have been new improvements. Russia has stealth tech as evidenced by the sub that surfaced in the middle of the Kitty Hawk fleet during exercises.
The US Fleet didnt even know it was there until it surfaced!

Here's their newest Nuclear powered sub!

Russia has launched its first new-generation nuclear submarine since the fall of the Soviet Union, the submarine's maker said on Wednesday.
The Bellona Foundation, 13/02-2008
The Yury Dolgoruky was launched at Russia's secretive Sevmash shipyard in the Arctic town of Severodvinsk on Tuesday night. "The atomic submarine Yuri Dolgoruky was launched into the water," Sevmash said in a short statement.

Named after a Slavic prince who helped to defend Moscow, the Borei-class submarine can carry 107 sailors for 100 days without surfacing, Reuters reported.

Russian Navy site!

http://www.bellona.org/news/news_2008/Yury_dogloruky

You ROCK! They also use FLIR which is pretty cool.

AGAIN. I w i l l t y p e s l o w e r. We sneak up on them and occasionally get through their defenses as well. We called them war games.

Our torpedo's are bigger...

Its not old school, the MH-60R are brand spanking new, and I will be helping with the systems integration.

If you think we can go into a conventional war with Russia and not lose ships your all crazy!
The whole idea is completely absurd and will never happen unless someone screws up!

Noone said we wouldn't lose any ships. We said we wouldn't lose the war.

Glenn! Oh my God! You ripped Sergey for stating what he knows from Russian media as being pure propaganda and now you are citing it? Gotta be right at ANY cost no matter what the subject and whether the info source is credible or not eh? As long as you are righ? Okay this should get you a little chubby: YOU ARE RIGHT! WHATEVER THE SUBJECT....... YOU ARE RIGHT! Happy now? I'll give you a minute or two to go on a date with Rosie to celebrate. Good God!

Unless one drives a fancy expensive sports car, then supposedly they have a small torpedo.

Stop with the diversionary tactics will you? Nobody said we wouldn't lose any ships. People die in wars. Vessels are lost. Aircraft, tanks, etc. It would be foolish for us to go to war with Russia. As they were getting trounced they would pull the pin on their nuke arsenal and given the inaccuracy of anything Russian, the numbers alone would be catastrophic if not for direct hits, the fallout would reach around the world.