Russia builds 'monster' submarine, twice as big as A380 super plane

Russia's new civilian submarine, which will be twice the size of the world's current largest commercial aircraft, the Airbus A380, is expected to begin development in 2020.

Russia's new submarine is expected to be twice as large as the world's largest commercial aircraft, the A380 (Photo: Dailymail)

Russia's civil submarine project is designed to explore the Arctic Circle and search for new natural resource deposits as well as conduct scientific research on the seabed.

With the support of the Rubin Design Bureau, the project will start in 2020. The new submarine will weigh 13,280 tons, be 14.4 meters wide and 134 meters long, have a capacity of 40 people and be nuclear-powered. This is the world's largest civilian submarine project to date.

The submarine is designed with a low-frequency active sonar system that can easily penetrate the seabed to survey the ocean floor. The sonar system is integrated into two wings that can be easily extended/retracted to the sides of the hull. This is also the reason for the large size of the submarine.

With its massive sonar system, the submarine can capture images of the surrounding ocean in all directions,Popular MechanicsIt can conduct surveys at a depth of 400m below the sea surface and possibly the seabed. With a wingspan of 100m, the maximum speed the ship can reach is 12.6 knots (23 km/h). With a capacity of 40 people, the submarine can carry out underwater missions for up to 90 consecutive days.

Comparison of parameters of the survey submarine and the Airbus A-380 aircraft

The civilian survey submarine will not be armed but will have an underwater drone launcher in place of the torpedo tubes. This will allow researchers to easily access the areas they want to study.

However, expert HI Sutton said there will be many places in the Arctic that the submarine cannot reach because the wings are too large to navigate when encountering areas with many protruding ice columns.

According to Dan Tri