A famous Russian submarine design bureau is working on a drone that imitates submarines. The drone, tentatively named “Surrogat,” could be a useful decoy in baiting a trap…or escaping one.
The Rubin Design Bureau of St. Petersberg, designer of Cold War Soviet missile submarines including the enormous Typhoon class, is working on this drone for the Russian Navy. According to Russian state media, “Surrogat” will have a deployable trailing antenna, allowing it to “realistically reproduce the physical fields of the enemy—the acoustic and electromagnetic.” The antenna will allow Surrogat to broadcast, for example, the sound made by a particular class of ballistic missile submarine, as well as the sub”s active sonar signature.
Surrogat will be 55 feet long and, thanks to lithium-ion batteries, capable of operating for 15 to16 hours at a time. It will weigh approximately 50 tons with a maximum diving depth of 600 meters and a maximum speed “in excess of 24 knots.”
How could the Russian Navy use Surrogat?