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Originally Posted by chris lindberg
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Your talking about the Borei class missile submarine, using the Bulava ballistic missile thats not even in the testing phase yet. The Borei is the replacement for the Typhoon submarine (hunt for Red October anyone), which was discontinued when the Russians discontinued the missiles that it used.
The russians are building 7 of these things, however the American's still have 18 Ohio's running around. However the American's don't really use the Ohio class boats as strictly deterrant SSBN's anymore. They converted 4 to become conventional guided missile subs, and they're probably going to retire the ballistic missile models as they go along, but if the Ruskies are getting back into building nuclear strategic platforms the American's are going to have to rethink that strategy. If the Russians build their 7, and the American's retire their Ohio's without a replacement it puts the Yanks at a significant disadvantage in terms of deterrent.
In terms of a missile with an 8000 km range, the Russian boats can pretty much fire off their missiles without leaving their berthing.