'Top Gear' Russia Accidentally Published An Image Of A Classified Submarine

Top Gear: ??????? ??????The classified "AC-12" submarine.

"Top Gear" Russia accidentally published an image of a secret Russian submarine.

The Russian edition of the automobile magazine published a photo of the classified "AC-12 Project," a nuclear deep-water submarine, nicknamed "Losharik" after a children's movie.

This was first reported by the unofficial blog of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, and picked up Slon Media, which reached out to an expert for commentary.

Weapons expert Vasiliy Sichev told Slon that it's extremely likely that this is the secret submarine. He told the site:

"It's impossible to unequivocally say that the picture was really the AC-12, of course, because the project is classified and how the 'Losharik' looks is technically unknown. However, photos which were allegedly of 'Losharik' surfaced in 2007, 2010, and 2011, and they had a lot of similarities with the one in Top Gear."

Russia is currently in the midst of a serious military build-up. Among other things, the Russian military is upgrading its navy, and by 2020, is hoping to add at least 16 new nuclear submarines to its Northen and Pacific fleets.

Here's the whole page from the magazine:

Top Gear: ??????? ??????