A few days ago Rosatom put out a request for tenders for "unloading spent nuclear fuel from decommissioned submarines of the Project 667BDR class, Nos. 395 and 397" (h/t @7FBTK). These submarines are K-223 Podolsk and K-433 Svyatoy Georgiy Pobedonosets respectively. I take it these two submarines have been withdrawn from service.
This leaves only one operational Project 667BDR/Delta III submarine - Ryazan, which returned from overhaul in February 2017. Submarines of this class are rather old - Podolsk and Svyatoy Georgiy Pobedonosets entered service in 1979 and 1980 respectively (they didn't have their current names at that point, of course). So, it is about time. But Ryazan still appears to be in good shape with missiles on board - it was probably Ryazan that launched its R-29R missile during an exercise in October 2017.
Post a comment