Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Monday congratulated the dock trials of the Alexander Nevsky nuclear submarine in northern region of Severodvinsk, saying the submarine is due to enter service in Dec. 2011, Xinhua informed.
Alexander Reznikov, a new strategic missile-carrying submarine of the Borei class, is currently under construction at the Sevmash shipyard.
"The nuclear submarine is due to be handed over to the navy in 2011 if work goes at the set pace," Putin was quoted by local media as saying.
"It is precisely that this modern, quality equipment must be supplied to all our Armed Forces in the nearest future," he said.
In addition, Putin also told a meeting in Severodvinsk that Russian Armed Forces will receive over 1,300 types of weaponry in line with a draft arms procurement program until 2020.
"We will need to set up new or expand the existing production lines to manufacture 220 of the new types of weaponry," Putin was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency.
More than 20 trillion rubles (640.7 billion U.S. dollars) will be earmarked for weapons procurement, three times more than the sum allocated in the existing 2007-2015 program, he added.
The new program is expected to stipulate the upgrade of up to 11 percent of military equipment annually and will allow Russia to increase the share of modern weaponry to 70 percent by 2020.(focus-fen)
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