Russia revealed the Vityaz-D program at the Army-2020 International Military and Technical Forum held in Kubinka, outside Moscow in July 2020.

[1] The Vityaz-D autonomous underwater vehicle was named in honor of the R/V Vityaz, which for nearly 20 years was the flagship of the Soviet scientific research fleet.

"[4] The editors of GlobalSecurity.org perhaps noted the significance of this development most succinctly: "Once UAVs came to be regarded as reusable aircraft rather than expendable [aerial] munitions, there was a quantum leap in the size of the vehicles and the purposes to which they were put.

Now the tether has been severed, as the computers onboard the vehicle can execute complex tasks in response to simple directions.

"[5] "The Russian Navy plans to replace its fleet of unmanned deep-sea submersibles with the Vityaz-D drone for its military operations.