Quote:
Originally Posted by T@T
These things are only good for ending life on earth as we know it,one would think the Russians would find a smarter way to spend over $6 billion considering they already have enough ballistic subs to end the earth 10x over.
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Almost all of Russia's naval capabilities before these new classes are outdated tech that Americans are very likely to find very easily. Existing ballistic subs are built in the cold war and have been poorly maintained during the lean years since. Due to neglect, poor maintenance and lack of funding during these years, the material deterioration of the Russian navy put it on the near verge of collapse by the early 2000s. Close to one in three ships were considered seaworthy at that point and the others were either in long term maintenance of being cannibalized for parts. Not to mention that Soviet's major shipbuilding facilities, at least the major ones, were all located in the Ukraine so fixing the issue became a top priority in Putin's revived defense minded Russia.
This isn't so much a source of new military buildup so much as just putting ships to sea so the shipbuilding industry will be revived and so they can maintain a proper navy before their Cold War era boats rot into oblivion.