Valery Dmitrievich Kalmykov
The radioelectronic industry in the years 1954-1974 was headed by Valery Dmitrievich Kalmykov, a man of broad outlook and state thinking, one of the most talented leaders and organizers of industry and science. He built the structure of the State Committee, and then the Ministry of Radio Industry so that each deputy was responsible for a group of areas of technology development specifically, and not directed "in general." And he attracted to senior positions in his committee, and then in the ministry, only large specialists who are proficient in the matter. Such a specialist was his first deputy, Pyotr Stepanovich Pleshakov. His activity in the new position showed how correctly the choice was made. In connection with frequent illnesses of the minister, Pleshakov headed the department, deeply delving into the work of the entire industry.
Kalmykov was born in 1908 in Rostov-on-Don. He began to work at the age of sixteen. Since 1924 an electrician and simultaneously with 1925 a student of the Rostov-on-Don industrial college. Since 1929 at the factory "Moskabel": the master, the shop manager, the senior engineer. After finishing the technical school, he was sent to the factory "Moskabel". And again work in parallel with studies, this time at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute.
After graduating in 1934, the Moscow Power Engineering Institute worked as a design engineer, then chief designer of the NII-10 People's Commissariat of the shipbuilding industry in Moscow. In November 1941, he was appointed chief engineer of the Sverdlovsk branch of NII-10 NSCP. On December 22, 1942, he was appointed director of the Sverdlovsk branch of NII-10 of the NSCP, then - director of Scientific-Research Institute No. 10 (NII-10) of the Ministry of the Shipbuilding Industry (now - the State Unitary Enterprise "Altair"), where Viktor Kuznetsov worked. Kuznetsov had been appointed the chief designer of gyroscopic command instruments for rockets.
In 1945, for the successes in the development of radar technology, the Lenin Order was marked by an institute headed by V. D. Kalmykov. In the Great Patriotic War he gave all his strength and talent to the designer, scientist, and leader of the creation of new types of weapons for the Soviet Army. It was his contribution to the victory over fascist Germany. For the successful fulfillment of the government's tasks for the development of radar technology, the institute, headed by Kalmykov, is awarded in the triumphant 45th Order of Lenin, in 1949 an outstanding designer became a laureate of the Stalin Prize.
The development in the West of qualitatively new types of military equipment, when the Soviet Union had only begun to restore the ruins destroyed by the war, led to the fact that in the USSR they had to throw huge amounts of money into the accelerated creation of nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic and antiaircraft guided missiles, and radar.
The organization of these works was entrusted to several departments specially trained by the Ministry of State Security, headed by L. Beria in those years. The first main department deals with nuclear weapons. The third main administration (TSU) is radar and guided missiles, in particular anti-aircraft guided missiles. Since 1949 Kalmykov was the head of the 4th GU of the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Since 1951 he was Deputy Chief and Chief Engineer of the Third Main Directorate under the Council of Ministers of the USSR.
In the early 1950s, the government of the USSR decided to create an air defense of Moscow. The task was set: to make the defense of the capital so that no enemy aircraft could approach it. The creation of an impenetrable air defense system became one of the most important state tasks.
In 1951-1954 - Deputy Chief of the Third Main Directorate under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, was responsible for the creation of radar systems and control systems for surface-to-air missiles. He directed the implementation of the state defense program aimed against a nuclear attack prepared by a potential enemy on the USSR (adopted in 1951).
In 1952, the State Program for the Creation of Missile Complexes for Various Purposes was approved. Valery Kalmykov becomes one of the program managers and the first head of the tests. The cradle of national defense missile technology was Kalmykov's head organization for the development of guided missiles and guidance systems, the legendary KB-1 (now OAO GSKB Almaz-Antei) and the famous testing ground in the lower reaches of the Volga Kapustin Yar. It was at this testing range that the first air defense missile system S-25 Berkut, as well as the S-75 Dvina, Desna and Volkhov missiles were tested. At the initiative of Kalmykov, many major programs were launched in the advanced fields of radio electronics: computer technology, satellite radio communications, radar, technology for creating multi-layer printed circuit boards, which facilitated the widespread introduction of microelectronics into armament and military equipment.
January 21, 1954 he was appointed Minister of Radio Engineering. From December 1957 to March 1965, he was chairman of the State Committee for Radio Electronics , Minister of the USSR. March 2, 1965 - appointed Minister of Radio Industry of the USSR.
For 20 years he headed the domestic radio engineering industry. To a large extent, this ministry (and its successors in subsequent reorganizations) was a defense department. Kalmykov himself was personally responsible for the creation and operation of electronic complexes for space research and anti-missile defense. On the basis of the programs carried out under his supervision and taking into account the experience, for the first time in the world of a destroyed ballistic missile, in 1961 a Moscow missile defense complex of increased structural reliability was developed and put into production. In December 1957 - March 1963 - Chairman of the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on radio electronics - Minister of the USSR.
In 1954 Valery Dmitrievich Kalmykov was appointed Minister of Radio Industry of the USSR. On his initiative, many major programs were launched in the most advanced fields of radio electronics: computer technology, satellite radio communications, radar, technology for creating multi-layer printed circuit boards, which facilitated the widespread introduction of microelectronics into armament and military equipment. The implementation of these programs allowed in the future to create modern weapons for all types of the Armed Forces: the Strategic Missile Forces, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Air Force. It is during this period that new enterprises are being built, teams are being set up to develop and manufacture air defense and missile defense systems, and test ranges for their testing. That is, a rocket shield of the country is being created, and the Air Defense Forces (PVO) receive modern anti-aircraft systems S-25, S-75, S-200, S-300P. In 1960, the Council of Ministers of the USSR commissioned the R & D-20 experimental development of the "Osa" air defense missile system, which was intended to cover motorized mechanized columns on the march from the attacks of enemy front-line aviation. For NII-20, this was a new direction of work. The department of Kalmykov had another line of work - the provision of the latest technology of the space industry of the USSR. For outstanding achievements in creating models of rocket technology and ensuring the successful flight of a Soviet man to outer space by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 17, 1961, Kalmykov Valery Dmitrievich was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the award of the Order of Lenin and the gold medal "Hammer and Sickle". In March 1963 - March 1965, he was Chairman of the State Committee on Radio Electronics of the USSR - Minister of the USSR. From March 1965 until the end of his life - Minister of Radio Industry of the USSR. Candidate for membership in the CPSU Central Committee in 1956-1961. Member of the CPSU Central Committee in 1961-1974. Member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR 5-8-th convocation (1958-1974).
B.E. Chertok in "Rockets and People", recalled "He was most interested in thermal detection and ranging in the infrared range. He demonstrated one project, a thermal detector, aiming it from the laboratory window at distant factory smokestacks that were barely perceptible by the naked eye. The effect was impressive. Kalmykov was very well-liked, not only as the director of a giant institute, but simply as a friendly, intelligent person with a good sense of humor, a quality he demonstrated over tea, pulling Vitya Kuznetsov’s leg about his stay in Berlin in 1941 as a “prisoner” of the Germans at the beginning of the war.
"In 1954, Kalmykov was appointed minister of the radio engineering industry. I often had to meet with him, in the different setting of his office or at the test range. His unfailing tact, competence, and friendly nature (which not every minister is able to maintain, even if he possessed those qualities before his appointment) facilitated decision-making on the most convoluted interdepartmental, organizational, and technical matters. Among the very many ritual farewells that have taken place over the last several decades at Novodevichye Cemetery, I recall with great sorrow my final goodbye to Valeriy Dmitriyevich Kalmykov. The successes of the radio electronic industry were of decisive importance for the subsequent evolution of rocket-space technology. That is why I felt it necessary to make this digression into history."
He lived in Moscow. He died on March 22, 1974. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. He was awarded the Stalin Prize (1949, 1952). He was awarded seven orders of Lenin (1945, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1961, 1966, 1971), Order of the October Revolution (1968), medals. The bust of an outstanding leader is installed on the territory of the Moscow factory of counting and analytical machines. On the house in Moscow, in which the Hero lived, a memorial plaque is installed. The name of VDKalmykov is conferred to the Research Institute of Counting Engineering, the Taganrog Radio Engineering Institute, the Moscow Factory of Counting and Analytical Machines, and the Sevastopol Radio Plant.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
