'Yes, Russian ground forces might be facing attritional annihilation in Ukraine. Still, Russian submarine forces pose an increasingly potent threat,' TomRtweets writes.
, the commander of U.S. military forces responsible for defending North America testified to that effect on Thursday. Gen. Glen VanHerck told Congress that Russia is probably one to two years away from being able to maintain persistent Yasen-class submarine deployments in both the Pacific and the Atlantic. It's a good bet that the only dependent factor here is whether or not Russia can construct the next two boats of the Yasen class on schedule by the end of 2024.
Second, the Yasen is loaded for effective war. It can carry the Zircon hypersonic vehicle, which can be loaded with either conventional or nuclear warheads in both land and naval attack roles. The Zircon would highly complicate any U.S. missile defense effort. The Yasen also carries the Kalibr land and naval attack cruise missile. When the newest variant of this missile is introduced, it will provide Russia means of launching a long-range, heavy-yield nuclear strike.
Taken together, the Yasen's stealth and strike profile enable its employment in a prospective first-strike surprise attack role. Were a Yasen class able to sneak up to the U.S. East Coast, for example, it might be able to launch a nuclear attack against Washington with a very short warning time. Were the U.S. president and vice president in close proximity, a decapitation strike might succeed. In that scenario, U.S. second-strike options would be greatly degraded. The U.S.
There's another factor in play here. Namely, that the Yasen poses additional strain on already overstretched U.S. Navy submarine forces. The means of deterring and defeating Yasen incursions rests heavily with the U.S. Navy's attack submarine force. The problem is that the U.S. does not have enough attack submarines and is not building enough
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