Repair after a fire: in the Russian Federation prepared for testing underwater AS-31 "Lasharik"
Profile Russian resources report that the AC-31 apparatus continues to be held at Sevmash, where the final repair work is carried out on it. It is emphasized that the submarine allegedly retained the ability to dive into the marginal depth, although, of course, this will be established only after appropriate test immersion. As a result, the unit must return to the Russian Fleet. The incident happened on July 1, 2019.
On this day, a fire broke out at the Northern Fleet Military Training Polygon at the Barents Sea Bay. According to official data, 14 seafarers-submarines were killed through the fire. And the cause of the fire was allegedly poor Chinese components or problem lithium-ion batteries. At the same time, at the time of the event, the device was stamped with the carrier - the atomic submarine "Podmoskov" of the Project 667BDRM.
According to Russian sources, the AC-31 was modernized, including the replacement of the reactor nuclear fuel, which was not injured during the accident. The observers have suggested that talking about "modernization" is probably due to the fact that the restoration of the apparatus promised by the Russian Ministry of Defense has been lasted for years. In addition, it is not the fact that Lasharyk will be able to successfully pass the test.
As for the operation of the AC-31, Russian sources write about it as a research deep-water apparatus. However, Ukrainian experts claim that in fact it "is actually a sabotage submarine intended for conducting operations at considerable depth. " And the somewhat unusual name of the apparatus is due to the fact that its design is a compartment in the form of spheres of titanium alloys, which resemble the shape of the character of the Soviet cartoon "Losharik".