Russia's 2002 Draft Budget To Provide For Submarine Fleet Renovation

The 2002 draft federal budget plans to provide for augmenting the fleet of the new generation submarines, a RIA Novosti correspondent quotes Vice-Premier and Minister of Industry, Science and Technologies Ilya Klebanov as saying to journalists on Tuesday. He said that the fourth-generation submarine Gepard is now being tested at the Sevmashzavod ship-building factory. "It has already passed all the tests," said Klebanov, but added that the design had not yet been thoroughly elaborated.