General Machinebuilding - Background
The Ministry of General machine-building was established on 2 March 1965 as a successor of the State Committee on Defense Technology of USSR. It was given responsibility for production of strategic ballistic missiles and space technology and associated research and development activities.
Minobshchemash was an effective headquarters of the industry. For work in it leading experts of the advanced enterprises and the organizations of branch were involved. The ministry quickly blended into the overall structure of the country's defense industry, creating its own style of work and leadership methods. At all stages of the development of rocket and space technology, the Ministry of Defense closely cooperated with the Ministry of Defense on new weapons systems, with the Academy of Sciences for Scientific Programs and other ministries and departments.
The Sovnarkhozes played their definite role in the development of the regions, but the reorganization of industry was not brought to its logical conclusion, the enterprises were cut off from scientific centers, which hindered scientific and technical progress. Therefore, after the resignation of N.S.Khrushchev, it was decided to return to the branch management of the national economy and revive the ministries, pursuing the goal, in particular, to bridge the gap between science and production.
By 1965, the development of the RCC was beginning to be affected by the disunity of the enterprises of the USSR rocket and space complex, which belonged to various ministries and departments of the USSR, the Union republics, as well as to the allied, republican and regional economic councils. To eliminate these problems and concentrate the efforts of the state on the most important directions in the development of rocket and space technology, the Ministry of General Mechanical Engineering was created. Minobshchemash joined the other allied ministries in the so-called "defense nine" of the country's military-industrial complex.
There were several machine-building ministries in the USSR: Mintyazhmash, Minsredmash, Minneftpishmash - despite the heavy burden of the cold war imposed, the country restored the national economy after a hard war, colossal work in the nuclear industry, air defense and missile defense, military radio electronics was conducted. Behind the modest word "general" was a grandiose task, in the literal sense of the word - cosmic. Minobshchemash became the head of machine building, providing space works in the USSR. It united and coordinated the work of a huge number of enterprises and scientific organizations "tied" to space topics and nuclear missile weapons. The industry was created integrated, capable of independently solving all issues related to rocket and space technology - from research and development to production of products. The task is to ensure nuclear missile, strategic parity with the United States, to install missiles with new characteristics in terms of range, accuracy and efficiency of control, not inferior to US missiles.
Before that, rocketry was conceived in accordance with the resolution signed in 1946 by I.V. Stalin, in the bowels of the Ministry of Armaments, separate structures and enterprises were in other industries. These teams led by the OKB-1, led by the legendary Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, and the scientific institutes of the Research Institute-88 and the Research Institute-4 of the Ministry of Defense, achieved significant successes: the first ballistic missiles were adopted, the R-7 intercontinental missile was piloted , a special test range ["polygon"] NIIP-5 was created, the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite, the first manned flight into outer space. Work on rockets and space vehicles involved more and more teams.
The first decade of the space era, which brought world recognition to the country, was a time when the Soviet Union was restoring the national economy with great strain, overcoming material and scientific and technical difficulties, when the "Cold War" fell heavily on the country, on the scale of work in the nuclear industry, air defense and missile defense, military radio electronics.
Simultaneously with the restoration of the integrity of the military-industrial complex, it was decided to create a new industry for the rocket and space, headed by the Ministry of General Mechanical Engineering. On March 2, 1965, S.A. Afanasyev was appointed Minister. The Ministry of General Engineering had to organize from scratch. The industry was created integrated, capable of independently solving all issues related to rocket and space technology - from research and development to the production of products on the basis of advanced technology and production organization. S.A. Afanasiev even before the release of the decree on the formation of a new ministry was connected to its formation. He knew all the difficulties in working out the designs and technology of rocket and space technology. Before him was the task of providing rocket-nuclear, strategic parity with the United States, installing more advanced missiles on alert, with new characteristics in terms of range, accuracy and efficiency of their control, not inferior to US missiles and advanced in the world of space exploration.
Leading research institutes, design bureaus, factories from the defense, aviation, radio engineering, shipbuilding industries were transferred to the new ministry. At the head of many of them were already well-known scientists, economic leaders and organizers of the country's defense. Among them, the academicians S.P Korolev, M.K.Yangel, V.N.Chelomey, V.P. Glushko, N.A. Pilyugin, V.P. Barmin, V.I. Kuznetsov, M.S. Ryazansky, V.P. Makeev, director V.Ya.Litvinov, M.I.Ryzhikh, R.A.Turks and many others. Each of them had enormous merits before the country, could apply to any state authority. And the formation and leadership of this ministry was entrusted to a relatively young 46-year-old specialist.
The Ministry of Defense, General Staff, and other military channels did not object to the development of an excessive array of missiles, if resources for this were found within the industrial ministries. Thus, the Ministry of General Machine Building provided funding for the development of the second generation of UR-100 and R-36 ICBMs. This ministry had been allocated all the necessary funds, money earmarked strictly in accordance with a decree of the Central Committee and Council of Ministers.
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