Russian mini-submarines from the same class of a craft that was involved in a tense rescue operation at the bottom of the Pacific last year will be upgraded with new foreign-made equipment. Tenders would be held to give AS-28 mini-subs a radical overhaul using foreign-made submarine equipment and mobile systems based on Britain's Panther Command and Liaison Vehicle. The efforts follow an incident in the Bering Sea last August, when a Priz AS-28 with seven sailors on board became trapped in a fishing net at a depth of about 620 feet. It was released after three days when an unmanned British deep-sea rescue vehicle, the Scorpio 45, cut the cables and freed the mini-sub. A large rescue vehicle, the Igor Belousov, was under construction and would be fitted out with state-of-the-art equipment. On March 19, the Borei nuclear-powered submarine would be laid down, and latest diesel powered submarine, the St. Petersburg, would start trials.
(Source: RIA Novosti)