[ejonesie22]

With the help they are getting from various sources along with their own desires to flex their muscle in the vacuum that has formed with our failing wouldn't bet hard currency on that. Nor would I underestimate Russian ingenuity. Remember we have to get into space on their “inferior” space craft...

[Rockingham]

That was a different era, before the US and the West had made dramatic advances due to computers and other high tech and while the USSR was still a going concern. Moreover, nuclear submarines generate a substantial and irreducible level of noise due to reactor cooling pumps. This makes the Borei class subs inherently noisy in ways that simply cannot be remedied no matter how much sound deadening is applied.