Russian Yasen-M Nuclear Attack Submarine Launches Cruise Missile Strikes in Pacific Show of Force

The Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet has conducted a live-fire exercise in the Pacific Ocean, with the Yasen-M class nuclear-powered attack submarine Novosibirsk launching P-800 and Kalibr cruise missiles against simulated sea and land targets. The Russian Defence Ministry reported on October 15 that both targets were successfully hit during the scheduled exercise, which involved the submarine launching its weapons while submerged. The submarine fired a P-800 anti-ship cruise missile at a target simulating an enemy warship, striking it at a distance of more than 170 kilometres. A Kalibr missile struck a target on land at the Kura testing range on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, more than 1,200 kilometres from the submarine’s launch position. The drills thus demonstrated the vessel’s ability to engage surface both ships and land-based targets with different types of cruise missiles. 

The Yasen-M is the world’s largest post-Cold War attack submarine class, and integrates an unusually powerful sonar suite, with the distinctive massive spherical bow sonar occupying much of its forward section, forcing torpedo tubes to be relocated farther aft. Its situational awareness is one of the most important components of the design, with its enormous bow array intended to provide outstandingly long detection ranges. The ship’s quieting measures are particularly extensive, with machinery is mounted on vibration-damping platforms, while considerable effort was invested in reducing hydrodynamic noise. In March Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Alexander Moiseyev confirmed that the Navy would transition to fielding a nuclear powered attack submarine fleet comprised exclusively of Yasen and Yasen-M class ships within the next 10 years.

The development of the Yasen class was heavily influenced by the Soviet Navy’s experience tracking U.S. Navy carrier battle groups, with a primary requirement for the ships having been the ability to hunt and destroy such forces. Where Soviet designs often emphasised deep diving, high speed, and rugged construction as means of surviving combat, the Yasen class instead places much greater emphasis on avoiding detection altogether, with its design philosophy having very much been stealth-centric. Feedback on the ships’ capabilities from the 2010s fuelled a growing interest in increasing the scale of procurements, with Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed on July 24, 2025, to have given instructions to continue the serial production, emphasising their role as the backbone of the Navy’s general-purpose forces. The Navy currently fields seven of the vessels. The submarines from 2025 began to integrate Zircon cruise missiles with hypersonic capabilities, which far outperform designs fielded overseas other than the Chinese YJ-20.