75-year-old Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin congratulates Alexey Fedorovich Utkin on his 70th birthday
More than thirty years ago, the design teams of our defense industry, under the leadership of the brothers Vladimir Fedorovich and Alexey Fedorovich Utkin, created the combat railway missile systems BZHRK "Molodets" (in the NATO classification "Scalpel") - "cosmodromes on wheels", which were terrifying with their elusiveness and combat power to the USA. The Americans did everything possible to destroy them. However, the Russians did not give up and in a few years (I really want to believe in this) a new generation of BZHRK will be released into the vastness of our country - the Barguzin missile systems.
In the history of the confrontation between the Soviet-Russian and American military engineering schools, there is one page that still evokes a feeling of deepest respect for domestic engineers and, at the same time, deepest shock and indignation at the actions of our politicians in the 90s of the last century. We are talking about the creation in the Soviet Union of combat railway missile systems (BZHRK) - a powerful weapon, the like of which has not yet been created in any country in the world, and about the fate of this greatest achievement of domestic engineering and technological thought.
Times are changing; in the early 90s, our potential opponents almost turned into friends, though also potential ones. We blew up mines, cut down rockets. And the Americans were thinking hard about how to decapitate our “Scalpel”. It was considered inappropriate to drive rocket railway cosmodromes throughout the country, and a decision was made to transfer the “Scalpels” to duty in restricted areas.
The main carriages of the BZHRK are those in which the PC-22 missile system (according to the Western classification "Scalpel") and the command post of the combat crew are located. “Scalpel” weighs more than a hundred tons and “reaches” a range of 10 thousand kilometers. The missiles are solid fuel, three-stage, with ten half-megaton individually targetable nuclear units on each. The Kostroma division had several such trains, and each of them had three launchers: twelve missiles, one hundred and twenty nuclear warheads. One can imagine the destructive power of these seemingly harmless-looking echelons! In addition to Kostroma, BZHRKs were deployed in two more places.
Attempts to adapt railway platforms as launch pads for rockets were made by engineers of Nazi Germany. In the Soviet Union, at the end of the 50s, this work was carried out at OKB-301 under the leadership of Semyon Lavochkin (the Burya cruise missile) and OKB-586 under the leadership of Mikhail Yangel (the creation of a specialized train for basing the R-12 medium-range ballistic missile).
However, true success in this direction was achieved only by the Utkin brothers - general designer of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin (Dnepropetrovsk), since 1990, head of the Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering of the Russian Space Agency and general designer of the Special Engineering Design Bureau (Leningrad), academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexey Fedorovich Utkin. Under the leadership of his older brother, the RT-23 intercontinental ballistic missile and its railway version, the RT-23UTTH (15Zh61, “Scalpel” according to NATO classification), were created. They decided to make the rocket engine using solid fuel, but there were no such developments in the design bureau at that time. Despite enormous difficulties, such an engine was created. A missile with a TPK must weigh no more than 150 tons, otherwise the railway track will not support it, which means new materials are needed; a rocket cannot be longer than an ordinary refrigerator car, but the design bureau did not create such short ones. Then they decided to remove the nozzles from the engines themselves, although the world practice of rocket science did not know such solutions. The head fairing protrudes from the other end of the car, it is impossible without it - there will be no accuracy, first they made it inflatable, but, according to calculations, it would not be able to overcome the barrier of nuclear explosions of the missile defense. Then a metal folding fairing was designed.
Under the leadership of his younger brother, a “cosmodrome on wheels” was created, capable of carrying three “Scalpels” and launching them from anywhere in the Soviet Union with a railway connection. Testing of components and assemblies of the future missile carrier began at the test site near Leningrad. There were a lot of questions: how to remove contact wires in electrified areas, how to lift a rocket into a vertical position in a matter of seconds, how to ensure a launch two minutes after the train stops? And the main thing is the start. How to prevent the fiery tail of a rocket from burning the sleepers like matches, and from melting the rails with its hellish temperature? And how to solve these issues? Decided! The powder engine pushes the rocket to a small height, the rocket maneuver engine is turned on, and the gas jet of the rocket's propulsion engine passes past the cars, container and railroad tracks. Finally, the main solution was found that crowned all the others and provided a margin of engineering strength for many years to come. After all, by that time no one in the world could create anything like this.
“I am proud that our teams solved this fantastically complex problem,” Vladimir Fedorovich later said. “We had to make this rocket train and we did it!”
The first missile train was put into service in 1987, the last - the 12th - was commissioned in 1992. The first reason for the appearance of the BZHRK in the USSR by the 70s of the last century was that a clear and fully reflective concept for the use of combat railway missile systems was formed. Soviet BZHRKs were “weapons of retaliation” that were to be used after a potential enemy launched a massive nuclear strike on the territory of the USSR. The country's extensive railway network made it possible to hide missile trains anywhere. Therefore, having appeared, practically out of nowhere, 12 Soviet BZHRKs carrying 36 intercontinental ballistic missiles (each of which carried 10 atomic fissile charges), in response to a nuclear strike by the United States and its allies, could literally wipe out any a European country that is a member of NATO, or several large US states. The second reason for the appearance of the BZHRK is the very high potential of Soviet military designers and engineers, and the availability of the necessary technologies for the serial production of such products. “The task that the Soviet government set before us was striking in its enormity. In domestic and world practice, no one has ever encountered so many problems. We had to place an intercontinental ballistic missile in a railway car, but the missile with its launcher weighs more than 150 tons. How to do it? After all, a train with such a huge load must travel along the national tracks of the Ministry of Railways. How to transport a strategic missile with a nuclear warhead in general, how to ensure absolute safety on the way, because we were given an estimated train speed of up to 120 km/h. Will the bridges hold up, will the track and the launch itself not collapse, how can the load be transferred to the railway track when the rocket is launched, will the train stand on the rails during the launch, how can the rocket be raised to a vertical position as quickly as possible after the train stops?” - General Designer of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin later recalled the questions that tormented him at that moment.
All these problems were successfully solved and twelve Soviet missile trains became a real headache for the Americans. The extensive railway network of the USSR (each train could travel 1 thousand km per day), the presence of numerous natural and artificial shelters did not allow their location to be determined with a sufficient degree of confidence, including with the help of satellites.
The first BZHRK 15P961 “Molodets” with an intercontinental ballistic missile 15Zh61 (RT-23 UTTH, SS-24 “Scalpel”) was put into service in the Soviet Union in 1987. By 1992, three missile divisions armed with BZHRK were deployed in our country: the 10th missile division in the Kostroma region, the 52nd missile division stationed in Zvezdny (Perm Territory), the 36th missile division, Kedrovy (Krasnoyarsk Territory) ). Each division had four missile regiments (a total of 12 BZHRK trains, three launchers each).
"Molodets" looked like an ordinary train consisting of several refrigerator and passenger cars. This composition included three three-car launch modules with RT-23UTTH ICBMs, a command module consisting of 7 cars, a tank car with reserves of fuel and lubricants, and three DM-62 diesel locomotives. The train and launcher were developed on the basis of a four-bogie eight-axle car with a carrying capacity of 135 tons by KBSM. The minimum launch module included three cars: a launcher control point, a launcher and a support unit. Each of the three launchers included in the BZHRK could launch both as part of a train and independently. When moving along the country's railway network, the BZHRK made it possible to quickly change the location of the starting position up to 1000 kilometers per day. At the same time, it was possible to identify the train specifically as a BZHRK only by the presence of a third locomotive in the train, or by paying attention by means of ground surveillance to refrigerator cars with eight wheel pairs (a regular freight car has four wheel pairs). Even reducing the mass of the rocket by 1.5 tons compared to the silo version and distributing the load of the launcher over eight axles of the car did not allow the designers to fully meet the permissible axial load on the track. To solve this problem, the BZHRK uses special “unloading” devices that redistribute part of the weight of the car with the launcher to adjacent cars. To ensure autonomous operation of the starting module, as well as a device for short-circuiting and discharging the contact network, the starting modules were equipped with four 100 kW diesel generators. The autonomy of the rocket train was 28 days.
The RT-23UTTH missile itself had a multiple individual target type warhead with ten warheads with a capacity of 0.43 Mt and a set of means to overcome missile defense. Firing range - 10100 km. The length of the rocket is 23 m. The launch weight of the rocket is 104.8 tons. The mass of the rocket with the launch container is 126 tons. Having received the order to launch missiles, the train stopped at any point on its route.
A special device was used to move the catenary suspension to the side, opening the roof of one of the refrigerator cars, from where the launch container with the rocket was lifted into a vertical position. After this, a mortar launch of the rocket was carried out. Coming out of the container, the rocket was deflected away from the train using a powder accelerator, and only after that the main engine was started.
And this technology made it possible to divert the jet of the rocket propulsion engine from the launch complex and thereby ensure the stability of the rocket train, the safety of people and engineering structures, including railway ones. From the moment the launch order was received until the rocket took off, no more than 3 minutes passed. The simulation showed US soldiers that even a simultaneous strike from two hundred Minuteman or MX missiles - and this is a total of 2,000 (!) warheads - is capable of disabling only 10% of the Molodtsov missiles. The remaining 90% of the BZHRK could be controlled only by using 18 additional reconnaissance satellites, which turned out to be unaffordable for the Americans. “The three-stage solid-fuel missile RT-23UTTH threw 10 warheads with a capacity of 430 thousand tons each to a distance of 10,100 km. And with an average deviation from the target of 150 meters. She had increased resistance to the effects of a nuclear explosion and was capable of independently restoring information in her electronic “brain” after it…” writes the Russian Arms news agency.
American engineers and the military were unable to create anything like this, although they tried. A prototype of the American BZHRK was tested at the US railway test site and the Western Missile Test Site (Vandenberg Air Force Base, California) until 1992. It consisted of two standard locomotives, two launch cars with the MX ICBM, a command post, support system cars and cars for personnel. At the same time, the Americans failed to create effective mechanisms for lowering the catenary network and retracting the missile during its launch away from the train and railway tracks, so the missiles were launched by American BZHRKs from specially equipped launch pads, which, of course, significantly reduced the factor of secrecy and surprise. In addition, unlike the USSR, the US has a less developed railway network, and the railways are owned by private companies. And this created many problems, ranging from the fact that civilian personnel would have to be involved to control the locomotives of the missile trains, to problems with the creation of a system for centralized control of combat patrols of the BZHRK and the organization of their technical operation.
This is how the Barguzin-Scalpels were destroyed under the supervision of the Americans.
The Pentagon spent more money on tracking the movements of the BZHRD than the Utkin brothers spent on creating these complexes. Twelve reconnaissance satellites searched for them throughout our country, and even from space they could not distinguish these ghost trains from ordinary refrigerators. And after the missile trains entered the Ministry of Railways, the Americans took an unprecedented action: under the guise of commercial cargo from Vladivostok, they sent containers in transit to one of the Scandinavian countries, one of which was stuffed with reconnaissance equipment for radio interception, analysis of the radiation situation and even filming through a secret membrane in the body of the spy container. But after the train departed from Vladivostok, the container was opened by our counterintelligence officers. The American idea failed.
The Americans tried to develop something similar to our BZHRK, but suffered a serious failure. And then they involved Gorbachev with the START-1 treaty, and then Yeltsin with START-2, which completed the defeat of the “retaliatory strike group.” As a result, first, at the insistence of Great Britain, since 1992, Russia has put its BZHRKs “on hold” - in places of permanent deployment, then - in 1993, under the START-2 treaty, it has committed itself to destroy all RT-23UTTH missiles within 10 years . And although this agreement, in fact, never entered into legal force, in 2003-2005 all Russian BZHRKs were removed from combat duty and disposed of. The appearance of two of them can now be seen only in the Museum of Railway Equipment at the Warsaw Station in St. Petersburg and in the AvtoVAZ Technical Museum.
In addition, on Yeltsin’s instructions, all work on the creation of such systems was prohibited. By the way, at the same time, most of the launch silos for the most powerful R-36M missiles at that time, which NATO received the designation SS-18 Mod.1,2,3 Satan, were eliminated - filled with concrete.
However, now, in 2017, over the past 12 years, the potential threat to our country has not decreased, rather the opposite. The Cold War has once again entered the international arena!
The United States professes the strategy of a “global disarming strike,” according to which a massive non-nuclear strike can suddenly be unleashed on the territory of a potential enemy. “The rearmament program, primarily of sea-based weapons, that the United States is pursuing allows them to reach a total volume of possible delivery to important facilities of the Russian Federation in the period 2015-2016 of about 6.5-7 thousand cruise missiles, with about 5 thousand - from sea carriers,” Pavel Sozinov, general designer of the Almaz-Antey air defense concern, emphasized to journalists at the end of last year.
This “winged swarm” can only be kept from attacking if the United States knows that it will definitely and guaranteed receive a retaliatory strike. Therefore, since 2012, work began in Russia to create a new generation of combat railway missile systems. Development work on this topic is being carried out by the main creator of Russian ICBMs, the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering (MIT). Unlike “Molodets”, “Barguzin” (that’s what the new missile train will be called) will be armed not with “Scalpels”, but with Yars-type missiles entirely of Russian design and production. They are twice as light as the RT-23UTTH, although they contain not 10, but 4 (according to open sources) multiple warheads. But they fly a thousand kilometers further. The new BZHRK complex, equipped with an ICBM with a multiple warhead, created on the basis of the Yars, will be disguised as a standard refrigerator car, the length of which is 24 meters with a missile length of 22.5 meters. A warhead carrying a non-nuclear weapon will be capable of hitting any target on the planet within an hour of receipt. The first new rocket train should be put into trial operation in 2018.
Judging by the available information, “Barguzin” in general - neither by cars, nor by diesel locomotives, nor by electromagnetic radiation, will not stand out from the total mass of freight trains, thousands of which are now scurrying along Russian railways every day. For example, “Molodets” was hauled by three DM62 diesel locomotives (a special modification of the serial M62 diesel locomotive) with a total power of 6 thousand hp. And the power of one current mainline freight two-section diesel locomotive 2TE25A “Vityaz”, which is mass-produced by Transmashholding, is 6,800 hp. And the mass of the Yars does not require additional reinforcement of either the transport cars or the railway tracks themselves along which the train passes. Therefore, soon our country will again have another powerful “argument” in the conversation about peace on our planet.
It was, as our wise people say, a saying, and my story is ahead!
And now, dear readers, it is with great pleasure that I will tell you about the fate of wonderful people, great patriots of Russia, outstanding rocketry designers of the famous school of St. Petersburg Military Mechanics - the Utkin brothers.
With your permission, I will begin my story about Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin.
Chief designer of the Molodets BZHRD and the SS-18 silo missile system (Satan in the NATO classification), chief-chief designer of the Dnepropetrovsk Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and head of the Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering of the Russian Space Agency (AND THIS IS ALL ABOUT ONE PERSON!) Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin born on October 17, 1923 in the village of Pustobor (now does not exist, land of the Kasimovsky district of the Ryazan region) on the banks of the beautiful Oka, just 30 km from the village of Izhevsky, where K. E. Tsiolkovsky was born 66 years earlier and not far away (110 km) from the village of Konstantinovo - the birthplace of the great Russian poet Sergei Yesenin.
Vladimir Fedorovich was born into the family of a worker Fyodor Dementievich (1886-1940) and a housewife Anisya Efimovna (1893-1981). Russian. His childhood and youth were spent on the banks of the Oka in the working-class village of Lashme, where his father got a job as a worker at an iron foundry, and in the city of Kasimov, where Vladimir studied at secondary school No. 2.
Father - Utkin Fedor Dementievich (1896-1940), began his career at the age of 14, worked at factories in the villages of Kletino, Pustobor, Ryazan region, and later was a planner-economist at an iron foundry in the village of Lashma. Mother - Utkina (Lashina) Anisiya Efimovna (1894-1981), spent her entire life raising four sons and running a household.
The elder brother is Nikolai Fedorovich Utkin (1919-1989), professor, for 19 years he worked as vice-rector of the Military Mech - the Baltic State Technical University in our modern interpretation.
Younger brother - Pyotr Fedorovich Utkin (1925-1974), served in the Armed Forces of the USSR, lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Army.
The younger brother, Alexey Fedorovich Utkin (1928-2014), chief designer of the special engineering design bureau, designed the launch complex and rolling stock for the Combat Railway Missile Complex.
Grandfather, Dementy Vasilyevich Utkin, was a peasant; in the last years of his life he worked as a driver. Having built a barge with his sons, he brought food and clothing from Moscow and other cities to the Kasimovsky district, and from the Lashman iron foundry he transported cast iron, boilers, etc. to many cities in Russia. He was a hardworking person, he also raised his sons in work and honesty, therefore the business was progressing successfully. In the 30s, the barge was requisitioned from Dementy Vasilyevich.
Russian outback, the town of Kasimov on the banks of the beautiful Oka.
Vladimir spent his childhood in the village of Lashma, Kasimovsky district, Ryazan region. I went to junior high school in the neighboring village of Kurman, which had a very strong group of teachers. Oskin Vasily Frolovich is a powerful mathematician, who laid a strong mathematical foundation for his brothers.
From an early age, Vladimir, like all his brothers and sisters, was accustomed to hard rural work, being equally skilled with a scythe, an ax and a shovel, and was fond of aircraft modeling, skiing and fishing (their home was located right on the banks of the Oka, near the backwater).
The Oka River is clean and fast, a beauty and a nurse. From early childhood, the Utkin brothers fished: they mastered this simple and entertaining craft well. At that time, sterlet was not uncommon in the Oka. In winter, they ran around the thin people with beaters, hammers, spears - they stifled and dragged larger fish. The river was clean. They took care of the river, knowing full well that the cleanliness of the river is the guarantee that water can be scooped up from the river and on the ear and drunk on a hot summer day without fear.
And the banks of the river are covered with bushes and thick grass. Thick grass along the ravines and inaccessible areas near the river in the summer is prey for boys and a source of food for domestic animals and birds, without which a large family cannot feed itself. From childhood, Vladimir and his brothers were involved in difficult peasant work, they knew how to mow well and quickly - their height and strength allowed them to do this very effectively, which was a source of pride for the boy. Therefore, already in adulthood, at the dacha and near Dnepropetrovsk and in the Moscow region, Vladimir Fedorovich always had a boat and a scythe at hand and in excellent condition. And Vladimir Fedorovich always combined mental work during the short summer rest with mowing, physical rural labor and fishing, which he loved since childhood, in which he was very strong and lucky.
Vladimir among teachers and classmates of the Loshmanov School
In high school, Vladimir studied at secondary school No. 2 in the city of Kasimov, which was eighteen kilometers from Lashma. Vladimir walked home on weekends from Kasimov in winter and summer to Lashma, these 18 kilometers! Now this school bears the name of V.F. Utkina. Vladimir was involved in aircraft modeling at school. He dreamed of studying and becoming an aircraft designer; at that time this profession was considered the most prestigious among technically gifted youth.
During school time, the brothers helped their parents with everything; rural work is varied and labor-intensive. The iron foundry where my father worked required a large number of grate wicker baskets. The factory paid 3 rubles per basket. The brothers got together, the eldest Nikolai planned to weave 10 baskets a day, planned the preparation, cutting, and cleaning of the rods. 30 rubles a day was a serious help for the family budget. Nikolai and Vladimir made the base of the baskets, weaved the sides, and the younger ones, Peter and Alexei, had to seal the bottom part. This is how the guys received their first lessons in planning their work and their first earned money. Vladimir was exempt from tuition fees in the 10th grade for his hard work on the collective farm and making baskets for the factory. Back then, high school had tuition fees...
In 1940, the head of the family, Fedor Dementievich, died suddenly. The head of the family was the elder brother Nikolai, who always enjoyed well-deserved authority in the family and was a real kind genius and lifesaver for his mother and younger brothers, who always appeared throughout life with his help and his wise, practical advice. After school, Nikolai went to study at the Moscow Higher Technical School, then worked in Leningrad as a teacher at the famous higher technical school of the Soviet defense industry - Voenmekh.
The graduation party was at school, at 4 am the graduates went for a walk on a barge, which stood in the thickets of flowering bird cherry trees. Heavy planes flew overhead towards Moscow...
And in the morning the graduates learned that the War had begun...
At the end of June, Vladimir fell ill with malaria. When the summons arrived from the Kasimovsky military registration and enlistment office, Vladimir was lying in a fever. At the military registration and enlistment office they asked: “Whoever is sick must leave the ranks!”
No one came out... When we arrived in Ulyanovsk, the malaria disappeared. Apparently climate change had an impact. This is such an amazing phenomenon and the reserves of a young body! A great patriotic spirit was inherent in that generation.
In August, Vladimir took the oath and was sent to the communications school, then to the 21st separate communications regiment. Yesterday's schoolboy became a military telegraph operator, a sergeant of the 49th separate communications company of the 278th Stalin Red Banner Siberian Order of Suvorov II degree fighter aviation division of the Reserve Headquarters of the Supreme High Command and went through the combat path from Volkhov to Berlin, in the positions of telegraph mechanic, telegraph operator of the 23rd, then -by the end of the war, Sergeant Major V.F. Utkin served as head of the telegraph of the same company.
He received his first medal for reconnaissance in force. He told his daughter that the war left a lasting feeling of severe cold in my memory, since I had to spend a lot of time in open space, in the field and in frozen trenches, I had to dig a lot of trenches in my native frozen soil...
Front-line everyday life of signalman V. Utkin
He fought: on the Volkhov Front (until December 1942);
North Caucasus Front (from January to July 1943);
Southern and 4th Ukrainian fronts (from July 1943 to May 1944);
3rd Belorussian Front (from May to October 1944);
1st Belorussian (since October 1944).
In 1945 V.F. Utkin became a member of the CPSU(b).
For the courage and bravery shown on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, Senior Sergeant Utkin was awarded two Orders of the Red Star, the Order of the Patriotic War, II degree, and medals.
1946 Leningrad. Demobilized sergeant major Vladimir with his younger brother, conscript corporal Pyotr Utkin.
In 1946, Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin was demobilized.
“Having gone through this most difficult test, we - the people, our country, our citizens - came out, healing our wounds, with the thought that there should never be anything like what we experienced.
And the moment came, which is called in history the Cold War. He forced our country to develop weapons more terrible than anything we saw in the Patriotic War.
Our people were afraid of a repeat of the war: all this was too expensive.”
In this phrase from the memoirs of Vladimir Fedorovich Vladimir, written already in his mature years, Fedorovich gathered everything: the difficulties of the war, and the fate of his friends, and his own post-war fate.
Returning to his native village of Lashma, Kasimovsky district, Ryazan region, he got a job as a senior commandant at Lashmansky vocational school No. 5. In 1946, he entered the Faculty of Jet Weapons of the Leningrad Military Mechanical Institute.
Excellent students of the Leningrad Military Mech V. Utkin and V. Zhuk
In his free time from studying, Vladimir Fedorovich and his brother Alexei Fedorovich (at that time also a student of Military Mechanics) worked part-time unloading cars at the Leningrad Record Plant.
At the institute, front-line soldier Vladimir Utkin stood out among the students for his excellent grades, creative, thoughtful and responsible attitude to the educational process. Combining his studies with design and, as we would now say, managerial work - receiving orders from industry for the institute - he acquired not only rich knowledge, but also important engineering experience.
Students of the Leningrad Military Mech Alexey and Vladimir Utkin (third and fourth from left). Photo from 1948.
Internship and pre-graduation work by V.F. Utkin took place at the 4th Research Institute of the Academy of Artillery Sciences of the Ministry of the Armed Forces of the USSR (now the 4th Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, in the city of Kaliningrad (currently the city of Korolev, Moscow region, Yubileiny microdistrict) which already then became the unofficial capital of domestic rocketry, where he was assigned to work, receiving a diploma as a mechanical engineer in 1952. He was in good standing at the 4th Central Research Institute, but the tasks assigned to him here were clearly an auxiliary role that was destined him as a civilian specialist in a military team, plus the fact that the young family chronically lacked funds to pay for rented housing, which was not cheap in the Moscow region, stimulated Vladimir Utkin to make the decision to transfer to the newly created SKB-586 in Dnepropetrovsk, where he plunged headlong into organizing mass production of the R-2, the best rocket of that time, developed at OKB-1 by S.P. Korolev. The chief designer of SKB V.S. Budnik quickly noticed the young specialist’s engineering acumen, his organizational skills, and the authority he immediately gained in the team and began to entrust him with independent responsible work.
These years were perhaps the most stressful in his life (for months he had to work 14-15 hours a day), but it was they who strengthened him and predetermined the success of all subsequent activities. After all, at that time the country did not specifically train organizers and leaders, and university engineering training was not enough for this. Therefore, for the development of young leaders (of course, if they have the necessary technical knowledge and creative talent), the experience of working with people, including along the party and Komsomol lines, which in scientific and design teams was not so much of an ideological apparatus nature, but was directed to optimize and improve the level of industrial relations.
The Utkin family - brothers (from left to right) Alexey, Peter, Vladimir and the eldest Nikolai with their wives, first-born children and mother Anisya Efimovna.
V.P. and V.F. Utkins - wedding photo 1949
Vladimir grew quickly, starting to work as an ordinary design engineer, senior engineer, then headed various research and development units as a group leader, head of a sector. He was distinguished by excellent design data, excellent theoretical training, high dedication, had a high level of organizational skills, and front-line experience had a positive impact. In 1954, an experimental design bureau was organized on the basis of SKB, headed by Mikhail Kuzmich Yangel, in which Utkin, as an already experienced specialist, immediately began to play a significant role. In 1961, at the age of 37, Utkin became Yangel's deputy, and in 1967 - first deputy chief designer. At this time, M.K. Yangel was already seriously ill a lot, and the responsibility for the work of the team gradually fell more and more on the shoulders of the first deputy.
Chief designer of SKB-586 M.K. Yangel
1955 with daughter Natasha at the May Day demonstration
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in August 1969, Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal.
V.F. Utkin participated in preparations for the flights of the first manned spacecraft-satellites "Vostok", including the flight of the world's first cosmonaut Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin.
Organized to create missile weapons, SKB-586, following the R-12, created the R-14 missile with twice the range, up to 4000 km, after which it was faced with a much more difficult task - to begin creating the R-16 intercontinental missile on the same principles. According to the customer’s plans, with equal technical characteristics, it was supposed to be superior in ease of use to the R-9, OKB-1’s new oxygen-kerosene rocket. It would seem that with such tasks the young team could not think about anything else, but time was already calling to space...
When it became obvious that small satellites for solving many scientific and defense problems would have advantages over large ones and launching them using the R-7 would be wasteful, design developments for them were transferred from OKB-1 to OKB-586, which again The task was set to develop a light and cheapest launch vehicle. This was successfully resolved in March 1962 with the creation of the Cosmos launch vehicle (LV) with the R-12U as the first stage and a new second stage. The design of the carrier and the simplest “satellite” (DS-1) was carried out under the leadership of V. M. Kovtunenko. The divisions led by Utkin developed its design, paying special attention to the reliability and safety of working with it. This direction became the main one for Vladimir Fedorovich’s work for a long time, since he was personally entrusted with the task of ensuring that strategic missiles were stored ready for launch for five or more years, and therefore filled with liquid fuel components that are extremely aggressive to all materials. The United States also tried to solve this problem with the Titan-M ICBM, but after the disaster they recognized this as unrealistic and completely switched to solid fuels for all strategic missiles. We managed to solve the problem by involving many academic and departmental research institutes and design bureaus of metallurgical, physical-chemical, chemical and other areas in the work. The research concerned the physics of the flow of gases and liquids in microcapillaries, intercrystalline and intracrystalline corrosion, the influence of the composition and quality of materials on their permeability. Methods for experimental research and calculations were developed, tightness standards were determined for various materials and fuel components, requirements for metallurgical semi-finished products and production technology, testing and control of fuel tanks, pipelines, valves and other hydraulic fittings, as well as in-tank measuring instruments. At this time, Vladimir Fedorovich practically could not be found in his office. He was always there where it was necessary to make the next decision that determined the further progress of work: in laboratories, workshops, at testing sites, day and night, on weekdays and holidays. It was unclear when he rested: in the hotel, on the train, and on the plane he was always surrounded by employees, listening to someone, giving instructions and advice to someone, convincing someone. And the problem considered, like many others, no less complex, was solved within a very realistic time frame...
Rare moments of rest. Dnepropetrovsk Fishing, 70s
The general’s special concern was relations with customers, on which it depended which of the OKB’s promising projects, supported by TsNIIMash research, would receive the right to be implemented. They received the “right to life” after flight tests, the management of which constituted the most important aspect of the multifaceted activity of the general designer of rocket and space complexes, surpassing in the degree of responsibility, the strain of all spiritual and physical forces, all the others combined. The test launches sum up the results of many years of persistent, focused work of many tens of thousands of specialists not only from the parent design bureau and the manufacturing enterprise (usually the Yuzhny Machine-Building Plant production association), but also from huge cooperation throughout the country. The next step of the Dnepropetrovsk residents into space was the creation of a launch vehicle based on the R-14 rocket, called “Intercosmos” in open publications. This launch vehicle turned out to be successful and, starting in 1964, successfully launched into orbit many Dnepropetrovsk and Krasnoyarsk satellites with a mass of up to 1 ton.
In the early 60s. S.P. Korolev began to create a new grandiose rocket and space system based on the super-heavy launch vehicle N-1 ("Earth and Universe", 1993, No. 4, p. 62, No. 5, p. 77), whose first task was supposed to be the implementation of a lunar expedition. According to his calculations, this program should have become a matter for the entire industry. He hoped that M.K. Yangel would take on his team the development of all the rocket units of the orbital part of the system (they had previously agreed on this). But at the last moment, citing overload with defense orders, M.K. Yangel took up only the development of the rocket part of the lunar spacecraft LK, and, to their credit, the Dnepropetrovsk team coped with this task perfectly. And although B.I. Gubanov was directly responsible for the development of the design of the rocket block “E”, and I.I. Ivanov was responsible for its engines, the first deputy chief designer V.F. Utkin also had to create this unique object, which in 1970-71 gg. passed successful flight tests in low-Earth orbit as part of the experimental T-2K spacecraft.
Academician V.P. Glushko presents Vladimir Fedorovich with a commemorative medal of the GDL-OKB 09/11/1981.
Korolev counted on the widespread participation of Dnepropetrovsk residents in the lunar program, which would probably contribute to its more successful implementation. But at the insistence of the main developer of powerful liquid-propellant rocket engines, Academician V.P. Glushko, who at that time faced serious difficulties in creating oxygen engines, but succeeded in creating nitrogen-tetroxide engines (the use of which on heavy carriers was categorically opposed by S.P. Korolev), M.K. Yangel decided to develop a project for his heavy carrier R-56, an alternative, like the Chelomeevsky UR-700, to the N-1 project. Unfortunately, nothing came of this rivalry other than a dispersal of forces that was far from the interests of the state.
On October 25, 1971, the scientist and outstanding rocketry designer M.K. Yangel passed away. After the death of the Chief, the question of who should lead the enterprise was resolved almost automatically. Utkin did not initiate any fundamental restructuring; on the contrary, he tried to support the well-established work of the team and the entire huge cooperation of subcontractors, and to strengthen the established traditions.
On October 29, 1971, Vladimir Fedorovich was appointed Chief Designer and Head, and on November 14, 1979, Vladimir Fedorovich was appointed to the position of General Designer and Head of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau (which since 1991 has been named after M.K. Yangel).
Yuzhnoye Design Bureau achieved new success by returning to its basic principles of developing launch vehicles based on combat missiles. This made it possible to create media with minimal cost and time. Cost reduction was achieved by using combat missile stages as part of the carrier after they were removed from duty or stored after the expiration of the warranty period with appropriate repairs or reprocessing. In 1972, the two-stage SS-9 ICBM, capable of launching a load of up to 3 tons into the reference orbit, was adapted for a two-stage carrier, due to relatively minor modifications. Together with the improvement of this machine, which turned it into an outstanding achievement of engineering - the heavy SS-9 ICBM 18, the launch vehicle based on its rocket units, called the “Cyclone,” was also being improved.
With a launch weight of 188 tons, the Cyclone launch vehicle, put into operation in 1980, became capable of launching 4 tons of payload into the reference orbit. But this was not its qualitative advantage compared to all previously created ones. In the Cyclone rocket and space complex, the launch positions of which were built at the Plesetsk cosmodrome, the safety of preparing the rocket for launch, which V.F. Utkin always tried to carry out, was brought to the limit. In terms of the degree of mechanization and automation of all work, with the complete “desertation” of the launch complex, “Cyclone” had no analogues in the entire world of rocket and space technology. After assembling the rocket and space system directly on the railway transport and installation unit in a horizontal position, including rocket units of three stages, the spacecraft and the nose fairing protecting it and the third stage, it is delivered to the launch site, where all further technological operations are carried out automatically: installation into a vertical position and docking of all electrical, pneumatic and hydraulic communications of the rocket with the stationary communications of the launch facility, its aiming, refueling with fuel components and launch. Work management and monitoring of their implementation are carried out by an automated control system with a digital computing device according to a special cyclogram in uniform time coordinates. This ensures that the Cyclone can be launched at a precisely specified moment at any time of the year or day, under any meteorological conditions, with wind speeds near the Earth up to 20 m/s. The rocket's high-precision control system and multi-mode propulsion system of its third stage make it possible to accurately launch a payload of up to 4 tons into a variety of circular and elliptical orbits with perigee altitudes from 200 to 3000 km and apogee altitudes from 200 to 8000 km. All these qualities allowed the domestic astronautics to enter a new stage: to move from single, albeit frequent, spacecraft launches to permanent orbital constellations for defense and national economic purposes.
V.F. Utkin at a meeting of the State Commission with generals Yu.A. Yashin and A.S. Matrenin
The next step in the development of domestic transport space systems was the development of a unified range of them according to a single plan with the participation of the main rocket manufacturing companies. The first in this series was the new two-stage launch vehicle designed by V. F. Utkin “Zenit-2”. Injecting up to 13.8 tons into reference orbit with a launch mass of 459 tons, it belongs to the middle class. After the failure to create the N-1, Zenit is the first domestic carrier designed specifically as a space transport system for launching into orbit automatic and manned spacecraft of various types and purposes. It was developed on the basis of the first-stage universal rocket unit Zenit-1, jointly designed by specialists from NPO Yuzhnoye and NPO Energia. For this purpose, the world's most powerful oxygen-kerosene liquid-propellant rocket engine RD-170 with a thrust of 740-806 tons was created. With a diameter of 3.9 m and a length of 33 m, the block has a launch weight of 353 tons. The launch weight of the second stage of the Zenit-2 launch vehicle is 90 t with a length of 11 m and the same diameter.
As a developer and head of research, Utkin was directly involved in the creation of modern launch vehicles and spacecraft. Under his leadership, four strategic missile systems were developed and put into service, ensuring parity of domestic nuclear missile forces with the corresponding US forces, and several launch vehicles were created. The latest developments are the highly efficient, environmentally friendly Zenit launch vehicle, capable of launching 12 tons of payload into low-Earth orbit, the RT-23 solid-fuel rocket (according to the NATO classification SS-24), which was equipped with the Molodets combat railway missile systems, and the highly efficient strategic missile R-36M (according to NATO classification SS-18 “Satan”), which has no analogues in the United States. In the field of spacecraft, various defense and scientific satellites have been commissioned. In total, more than three hundred devices of the Cosmos family were launched into various orbits, which make up a significant part of the total number of satellites in this series.
The strategy of designer-scientist V.F. Utkin is to find alternative optimal scientific and technical solutions at minimal cost.
A special place in world defense technology is occupied by the missile system created at the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau - a two-stage liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The firing range, depending on the mass of the warhead, can reach 16 thousand km. It has increased survivability in a nuclear explosion and has the technical capabilities to overcome US missile defense. Its payload mass is twice that of the American MX. To prevent the monstrous power of the rocket's engines from damaging the silo launcher, a mortar launch was used. According to American experts, this is the best missile weapon in the world.
The NATO command, being strongly impressed by the capabilities of the Soviet 18M ICBM, assigned it its own index - Satan, that is, “Satan”. The shock caused by the appearance of this missile forced the leadership of the United States of America to negotiate on strategic arms limitation. And Vladimir Fedorovich himself said: “We made “Satan” so that such weapons would never be used.”
V.F. Utkin is an active participant in work in the field of international cooperation in the research and development of outer space. A significant event was the implementation of the extensive Intercosmos program, which was a significant contribution to the joint exploration of near-Earth space by scientists from different countries. In collaboration with French scientists, the Arcade project was implemented with the help of the Eagle satellite.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated August 12, 1976, Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin was awarded the Order of Lenin and the second gold medal “Hammer and Sickle”.
In 1976 he was elected a full member (academician) of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, and in 1984 - an academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
Heads of the Dneprpetrovsk Rocket and Space Center Director of YuMZ A.M. Makarov and General Designer of Yuzhnoye Design Bureau V.F. Utkin
Since 1986, he has been the general director and general designer of NPO Yuzhnoye. Utkin took an active part in the work on the use of defense scientific and technical developments in the interests of science and the national economy: in the creation of the Cyclone launch vehicle based on the SS-9, the Cosmos-1500 satellite, used to withdraw a caravan of ships from the ice of the East -Siberian Sea.
The next step in the development of domestic transport space systems was the development of a unified range of them according to a single plan with the participation of the main rocket manufacturing companies. The first in this series was the new two-stage launch vehicle designed by V. F. Utkin “Zenit-2”. Injecting up to 13.8 tons into reference orbit with a launch mass of 459 tons, it belongs to the middle class. After the failure to create the N-1, Zenit is the first domestic carrier designed specifically as a space transport system for launching into orbit automatic and manned spacecraft of various types and purposes. It was developed on the basis of the first-stage universal rocket unit Zenit-1, jointly designed by specialists from NPO Yuzhnoye and NPO Energia. For this purpose, the world's most powerful oxygen-kerosene liquid-propellant rocket engine RD-170 with a thrust of 740-806 tons was created. With a diameter of 3.9 m and a length of 33 m, the block has a launch weight of 353 tons.
General designer V.F. Utkin at the model of the Zenit launch vehicle
The launch mass of the second stage of the Zenit-2 launch vehicle is 90 tons with a length of 11 m and the same diameter. The creation of the Zenit launch vehicle, which has become the most advanced rocket in its class, is of utmost importance not only in itself, but also as a step towards creation of a super-heavy launch vehicle "Energia". The universal Zenit-1 block, which went through a full cycle of development, ground and flight tests as part of the Zenit-2 launch vehicle since 1985, was then used in the amount of four side blocks as the first stage of the Energia launch vehicle. Moreover, the launch complexes of Zenit and Energia use the same principles of complete mechanization and automation that were first used in Cyclone.
Academician Vladimir Utkin on the right and his first deputy at the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau B.I. Gubanov.
The continuity of the work of the Dnepropetrovsk and Kaliningrad teams was reflected in the transfer of Utkin’s deputy B.I. Gubanov to NPO Energia. Gubanov became the chief designer of this powerful rocket, which made successful flights in 1988 and 1989.
Vladimir Fedorovich himself, whose scope of activity has long gone beyond the scope of one, even the largest and most advanced, NPO, moved to Moscow in 1990 and headed the main scientific institute of the Russian Space Agency - TsNIIMashinostroeniya, which is a complex of scientific centers developing almost all theoretical and experimental areas of rocket and space science, including space flight control and the development of the Russian federal space program.
In 1990-2000 V.F. Utkin is director of the Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering of the Russian Space Agency.
At the MCC with Marshal of the Strategic Missile Forces I. Sergeev
Patriarchs of domestic rocket science S.A. Afanasyev, V.F. Utkin, B.E. Chertok
He took an active part in restructuring the management of the country's rocket and space industry in new economic conditions, and made a significant contribution to the development of programs for scientific and applied research and experiments on board the Mir and ISS manned orbital stations and the Russian Federal Space Program. Under his leadership, the institute conducted scientific research in various sections of the Federal program, carried out research and development work with the aim of creating experimental special-purpose devices. As part of the agreements reached with the United States, scientific and technical “support” was provided for key problems related to the International Space Station (ISS).
Having become the head of the Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering in Korolev near Moscow in 1990, Vladimir Fedorovich made a great contribution to the further reduction of nuclear missile confrontation and to the development of international agreements on the implementation of peaceful space projects. The merits and experience of the designer, scientist and thinker V.F. Utkin, his authority in international scientific and government circles largely determined his participation in various commissions, committees and forums on the development of rocket and space technology. By this time he was already widely known in the rocket and space industry. Vladimir Fedorovich headed the leading research institute of the rocket and space industry during the difficult time of the collapse of the USSR. However, his work in the new place was successful, which was facilitated by long-standing contacts between the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and TsNIIMash during the work on creating a new generation of strategic missile systems that ensured parity of domestic nuclear forces, as well as several types of space launch vehicles and vehicles.
Deputy General Director of TsNIIMash for Science, Academician Nikolai Apollonovich Anfimov recalls: “In all these works, Vladimir Fedorovich and the staff of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau worked closely with TsNIImash: both in the process of design search, in determining ways to satisfy the increased tactical and technical characteristics included in the technical the customer’s assignment, both during design calculations and during experimental development and testing of the complexes being created. The institute’s aerodynamicists, strength engineers, speakers and thermal engineers had especially close ties with the “southerners.” All design bureau developments were tested in the process of calculations and experiments at TsNIIMash.”
In the office of the Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering
As director of TsNIIMash, V.F. Utkin did a lot to preserve the integrity of the industry's leading research institute in the new economic conditions, made a significant contribution to the development of programs for scientific and applied research and experiments on board the Mir orbital manned stations and the ISS, became president of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics named after K.E. Tsiolkovsky. Despite all the difficulties of the “era of change,” it was during the period of Utkin’s directorship at TsNIIMash that serious progress occurred in some areas of work.
Convinced that the institute, along with research work, needs to take on a leading role in one or another development work, Vladimir Fedorovich launched research and development work at the institute to ensure the creation of experimental special-purpose aircraft based on critical technologies and key elements of the new generation. As a result, TsNIIMash won a competition from one of the most authoritative design bureaus in this field of technology and received a corresponding state order, which gave work to a number of departments of the institute and related organizations.
Sea launch
Unique results were achieved in issues related to the GLONASS space navigation system. These tasks are solved by the team of the department of navigation satellite systems as part of the same MCC (more precisely, MCC-M), familiar to everyone from television reports about the next launch of astronauts to the Mir station or the ISS. Navigation based on artificial Earth satellites is rightly called the Third Scientific and Technological Revolution of the late twentieth century. Work on high-precision determination of satellite orbits based on laser measurements began in 1990. The high level of results and active participation in international cooperation have led to the fact that TsUP-M has been an official participant in the work of the International Earth Rotation Service since 1994.
It is impossible not to note the very important role of V.F. Utkin in the organization of conversion developments at TsNIIMash. In particular, the work of the strength units related to solving problems that have arisen in the nuclear industry, as well as ensuring the safe operation of hydraulic structures in Russia, is of great importance. Together with the Lenhydrostal organization, projects were developed and more than 60 new generation sluice gates with a guaranteed service life of 100 years were put into operation. A number of possible failures of sluice systems on major rivers with unpredictable catastrophic consequences have been prevented.
Vladimir Fedorovich devoted a lot of energy to international cooperation in the field of space. Under the leadership of the director of TsNIIMash, a scientific and technical examination of the safety of international space flights on board the domestic orbital manned complex "Mir" and the international space station (ISS) was organized. All this was done within the framework of the joint Russian-American Utkin-Stafford Commission, named after the names of its co-chairs.
Performance at the Space Center. Kennedy Florida USA
In 1997, the work of the Utkin-Stafford Commission in the USA took place in an unofficial setting
Heading the Coordination Scientific and Technical Council (CSTC) of Roscosmos and the Russian Academy of Sciences for research and experiments on the Mir station and the Russian segment of the ISS, Vladimir Fedorovich supervised the consideration and selection of proposals from Russian scientists to conduct research and experiments on board orbital stations. Under the auspices of the KNTS, a large amount of work was carried out on the formation and implementation of scientific research programs, including with the participation of international partners. Vladimir Fedorovich knew how to set tasks and organize work in a way that was interesting to everyone.
Sometimes those present at the KNTS could not always immediately grasp the problem as a whole, so debates arose. Vladimir Fedorovich always listened to the speakers to the end, and then, as it sometimes seemed, he authoritarianly summed up the discussions with literally one or two succinct phrases.
Everyone who interacted with Vladimir Fedorovich during his work at TsNIIMash noted his rare commitment and clarity in his work, deep knowledge and enormous interest not only in those areas of science and technology that he had to cover by the nature of his activity. The academician was a widely educated person, he knew and loved poetry, theater and cinema. Proving the feasibility of making certain technical decisions, he often cited historical and literary examples, figurative comparisons, memories from his Ryazan youth as additional arguments, and always to the point.
While in high positions of government leadership, becoming a General Designer and a major scientist, remaining demanding of himself, his colleagues and subordinates, Vladimir Fedorovich in life was a simple and approachable person, he followed and deeply studied new areas of science and technology, loved art, theater, I read poetry very well. I could spend hours reciting the works of my favorite fellow countryman Sergei Yesenin. For example, according to the testimony of his colleagues, he could read his favorite poem “Anna Snegina” from memory.
May 9 is the main holiday of front-line soldiers. Generals at barbecue Yu.A. Mozzhorin, V.F. Utkin, V.A. Menshikov
Vladimir Fedorovich became a Doctor of Technical Sciences, a full member of the Academies of Sciences of the USSR, Ukraine and Russia. His outstanding achievements were twice awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. He is a laureate of the Lenin and State Prizes of the USSR and Ukraine, holder of six Orders of Lenin, Orders of the Patriotic War of the 1st and 2nd degrees, 2 Orders of the Red Star, 14 medals.
In the history of the twentieth century, the name V.F. Utkina is on a par with the names of the great designers of rocket and space technology S.P. Koroleva, M.K. Yangelya, V.P. Glushko, V.N. Chelomeya, V.P. Makeeva.
In Soviet times, General Secretary L.I. Brezhnev, who knew very well the state of affairs in the rocket and space field, also knew its personnel and their capabilities well. Brezhnev did not always conduct polite conversations with leading experts; he also used pressure, and even what kind of pressure, if the situation required it. Extremely concerned about the lag behind the United States in the production and quality of combat missile systems, Brezhnev summoned V. Utkin for a conversation. From the very first words, the conversation, according to Utkin’s recollections, took on a harsh character. After several introductory phrases, Brezhnev, according to Utkin, literally said the following in an unkind tone: “If you do not eliminate our gap with the United States in the design and production of more powerful and reliable missiles than theirs, then we will put you against the wall.” Without allowing Utkin to say a single word, he sent him “...to think and do things.” Until his very last hour, Utkin remained confident that Brezhnev would have done just that. But Utkin solved this problem. It is unlikely that Brezhnev would have decided to carry out his threat, which was most likely psychological in nature.
The formidable "Satan" - the rocket masterpiece of Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin - is launching
The United States has always highly valued the work and technical genius of the general designers of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau. However, their high assessment was rude and was expressed as follows: “This hornet’s nest must be destroyed in the first minutes of the attack on the Soviets.” It was a target for destruction, listed among the top ten most important targets in the USSR. Remember how the secrets of the rocket technology of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and Yuzhmash used to be protected: not a single football match with the participation of a foreign team was held in Dnepropetrovsk. To the hundred thermonuclear arrows aimed at the heart of the USSR by the Americans, Utkin responded with a much larger number of missile arrows, including the arrows of his famous “Satan” (“Governor”), which immediately cooled the warlike ardor of the United States. They respected strength always and everywhere. Moreover, Utkin’s missile arrows were too tough for the vaunted American missile defense system. The United States could not repel an attack by Soviet Voevoda-class missiles with technical means then, and there is reason to believe that this is not possible today. Even then, the leaders of the USSR argued that the Union had adequate ways to respond, and they really did exist, and it was not, as some experts liked to claim, “red propaganda.”
But Utkin’s rocket was difficult to conceive; completely new alloys were needed, not previously used anywhere, and it was not just a matter of alloys. Utkin quickly enough begins to conduct flight design tests of the new rocket. The first launch of the “Voevoda” (according to the Soviet classification) and ... - a rocket explosion on the launch pad. Brezhnev didn’t even raise his famous eyebrow; the Secretary General was an understanding missile specialist. The second launch and failure again, Brezhnev silently endures this missile failure, without interfering or urging Utkin. And the third and all subsequent launches went brilliantly. There were, of course, some shortcomings, not without this, but these were mostly “small things”. It was then that the formidable “Russian “Voevoda” turned into “SATAN,” so terrible for the Americans.
The endless headache for the United States from Utkin’s missiles did not go away for a long time. The combat railway missile systems designed by Utkin alone can instill in any potential adversary a feeling of complete insecurity from an inevitable retaliatory strike. Imagine an ordinary passenger train. One to one the same composition, but instead of passengers carrying missiles with military specialists serving them. Try to distinguish a missile train among tens of thousands of similar trains moving around the country.
Launch of the BRZD "Molodets" rocket
The first President of the USSR M. Gorbachev traveled to Baikonur, visited YuMZ and the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, repeatedly communicated with our leading specialists in the defense complex and generals, but nevertheless, succumbed to the temptation to gain a very dubious worldwide reputation as a peacemaker, showing criminal gullibility , having received verbal guarantees from our Western “partners” about the non-expansion of NATO to the East and the non-aligned status of a united Germany, “waved away” START-1, worse than that, ensured the implementation of expanded unilateral obligations, causing colossal damage to the defense capability of our country, devaluing the results of the hard work of entire generations of our defense complex, the entire Soviet people.
The first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, in turn, having waved START-2, contributed to the further collapse of the country’s defense capability and at one time agreed to the point that he announced the removal of warheads from combat missiles, instead of announcing a change in the flight mission, that missiles will no longer be aimed at America.
These were the kind of specialists who were in the rank of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the late USSR and Russia, who did not consider it possible to consult with their chief designers and take into account their opinion and the opinion of our military commanders.
The first leaders of our state listened to the opinion of Vladimir Fedorovich - the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee L.I., Brezhnev, President of Russia V. Putin (Photo from the newspaper "Gudok" 2000). For the sake of fairness, it is worth noting that this was not always the case; this did not apply to the President of the USSR M. Gorbachev and the first President of Russia B. Yeltsin.
It is significant that the tight-fisted American Congress immediately allocated money for the destruction of former Soviet missile silos, but did not give a single cent for the construction of housing for the officers who operated these silos: “The US Congress does not have the ability to allocate money to improve the living conditions of officers of another country.” But before destroying, for example, the missile silos of the 43rd Missile Army in Ukraine, the United States spoke about its readiness to help the officers and warrant officers of the Strategic Missile Forces dismissed en masse in arranging housing. The leadership of Ukraine at that time, instead of concluding an agreement with the United States that would have specified points of compensation for the country for the destruction of missile silos, obligatory for both parties, took the United States at its word. You can wait forever for money under agreements of this kind...
After retiring, Utkin received US Brigadier General astronaut Thomas Stafford at his home at his request. Why shouldn’t he, Utkin, accept the famous American astronaut? He accepted, and together they made dumplings, the production of which Stafford mastered well. And the dumplings go with good Russian vodka. Stafford raised the first toast to General Designer Utkin, who “... made a rocket that the Americans are still afraid of.” Even in this friendly toast, respect for a strong opponent is clearly visible. The United States does not talk to the weak at all, except from a position of strength through diktat and threats. There are any number of examples, especially in our time.
Thomas Stafford: “...Academician Utkin was a witness and catalyst of advanced changes that took place during the 76 years of his life. He personally saw the emergence and development of numerous great inventions: liquid fuel rockets, the first artificial Earth satellite and personal computers. He was truly the driving force behind these changes, as it was his launch vehicle design that formed the basis for the development of the Russian Federation's defense and aerospace technologies used today... During our very first meeting, I was amazed by the brilliant, sharp mind of a great engineer who became an unrivaled expert in the development of rocket and space technology. It is difficult to overestimate the insight of his thoughts and the recommendations that he shared during our joint work within the Mir-Shuttle program. Thanks to his efforts, it was possible to expand cooperation within the framework of the joint program and involve nations around the world in the construction of the International Space Station."
Daniel Goldin: “As director of the Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Vladimir Fedorovich was a staunch supporter of the creation of the International Space Station. His dedication to our cooperation in space paved the way for our future. We will greatly miss his leadership and wisdom. Vladimir Fedorovich was an integral factor in the success of our deepening cooperation in space. His legacy will live on in the future achievements of space explorers around the world."
Academician V.F. Utkin and astronaut Thomas Staffort at the monument to K.E. Tsiolkovsky in the village of Izhevsk
Under the leadership of V.F. Utkin, a large galaxy of talented engineers and designers, managers of enterprises and organizations grew up. He always relied on their creativity and outstanding organizational skills. This was a team capable of creating the most complex and incredible projects. She is now successfully working in academic institutes, design bureaus, research institutes and at enterprises in the Russian space industry.
While creating the most formidable and destructive modern weapons, V.F. Utkin, on the other hand, felt a huge responsibility to the world and his compatriots. His philosophy as a designer and citizen was completely subordinated to the duty and moral choice of a scientist. And perhaps that is why the nuclear missile disaster did not occur, and the states sat down at the negotiating table on the reduction of formidable weapons, that there were such patriotic scientists as Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin.
Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin’s heart stopped beating on February 15, 2000. Hero of Socialist Labor Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin was buried twice at the Troekurovsky cemetery in the capital.
In 2003, a memorial plaque in memory of the great rocket scientist was unveiled on the facade of the main building of TsNIIMash. An organizing committee has been created that annually awards gold and silver medals named after Academician Utkin.
V.F. Utkin did so much for the country that even a few lives would not have been enough for anyone else. About him, twice Hero of Socialist Labor, academician and winner of numerous awards, young people in Russia, and even more so in Maidan Ukraine, know very little or nothing at all, not counting the guys from the town of Kasimov, which is in the Ryazan region - the native land of the great K. E. Tsiolkovsky, the great Russian poet Sergei Yesenin and the outstanding designers of rocket technology of our Fatherland, patriots of the Russian land, the Utkin brothers...
Flowers V.F. Utkin at the stele of the Boatiev Utkin Memorial Museum in Kasimovskaya Secondary School 2 from which V.F. Utkin went to the front
In the memorial museum of the Utkin brothers, school No. 2 in the city of Kasimov 
Nastya is an activist at the school museum of the Utkin brothers.
(October 17, 1923 - February 15, 2000) - academician, president of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics. K.E. Tsiolkovsky, General Designer of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau (1971 - 1990), under his leadership 4 generations of strategic missile systems were created, director of the Central Scientific Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering (TsNIIMash) - the main branch institute of rocket and space technology.
Born in the town of Pustobor, Kasimovsky district (now Kasimovsky district). His father worked as a planner-economist at an iron foundry, his mother took care of the house and raising four sons.
In 1932 he went to primary school in the village. Lashma, where the family had moved by this time, graduated with honors from secondary school No. 2 in Kasimov in 1941 and became a cadet at the Ulyanovsk School of Communications.
During the Great Patriotic War, Vladimir Fedorovich served as a senior mechanic at a military telegraph station in the 278th Fighter Aviation Division and reached Berlin.
After demobilization, Utkin worked at vocational school No. 5 at the Lashman iron foundry. Since 1946, he has been a student at the rocket weapons department of the Leningrad Military Mechanical Institute (now the Baltic State Technical University "Voenmech" named after D.F. Ustinov - BSTU "Voenmech"). In the spring of 1952, he defended his diploma and was assigned to OKB-586 in Dnepropetrovsk, where he worked for 38 years. From 1954 to 1960 - head of a group, sector, department, since 1960 - deputy head and chief designer of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau.
In the period from 1971 to 1990 - chief, then - general designer of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau. Under his leadership, 4 generations of strategic missile systems, more than 80 types of military and scientific satellites were created, more than 300 spacecraft were launched into orbit, and several types of launch vehicles were created. With the direct participation of Vladimir Fedorovich, most types of missiles “SS74”, “SS79”, “SS718”, “SS724” were developed and put into service.
Since November 1990, Utkin has been the director of the Central Scientific Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering (TsNIIMash), the leading branch institute of rocket and space technology. In December 1994 there was
An independent Russian-American commission was formed on the problems of ensuring joint manned flights, the co-chairs of which were Utkin and US astronaut T. Stafford.
Under the leadership of Vladimir Fedorovich, a modern Russian rocket and space technology program was developed. Utkin is the author of a number of major inventions. The list of his main scientific works contains about 200 titles. In 1964 he was awarded the academic degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences, in the same year he became a laureate of the Lenin Prize, and in 1981 - the USSR State Prize.
Since 1972 - corresponding member, in 1976 - academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, in 1984 elected academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Vladimir Fedorovich was the president of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics. K.E. Tsiolkovsky, full member of the International Academy of Astronautics, honorary member of the Russian Academy of Rocket and Artillery Sciences.
Awarded six Orders of Lenin, two Orders of the Red Star, Order of the Patriotic War 2nd class, Red Banner of Labor, “For Services to the Fatherland” 2nd and 3rd class, 16 medals, honorary badge “Excellent Signalman”, laureate gold medal named after S.P. Queen. Twice Hero of Socialist Labor.
Died on February 15, 2000 in Moscow. Even during the life of the scientist on K.E. Tsiolkovsky in Ryazan, a bronze bust by the sculptor K.I. Chekanev and architect A.I. Suponina.
In January 2002, the Ryazan City Council decided to name the square opposite the Ryazan College of Industrial Technologies, Economics and Law named after Utkin.
In memory of the outstanding Russian scientist, on April 27, 2001, the Gold Medal named after Academician V.F. Utkin, awarded in two categories: “For contribution to the development of the economy and strengthening the country’s defense capability” and “For contribution to the development of the economy of the Ryazan region.” Silver medal named after academician V.F. Utkina is awarded in three categories: “For active public and journalistic activities on the problems of astronautics and the country’s military-industrial complex”, “For achievements in scientific and practical activities in astronautics” and “For the development and implementation of new equipment and technologies, the creation of modern highly efficient production facilities” , implementation of socially significant projects in the interests of the development of the Ryazan region.”
In 2006, on the initiative of the Public Committee named after. V.F. Utkin, the Government of the Ryazan Region established a non-profit organization (fund) “Innovation and Technology Center named after Academician V.F. Utkin."
By the decision of the executive committee of the Ryazan City Council of People's Deputies in May 1987, Utkin was awarded the title “Honorary Citizen of the City of Ryazan.”
Based on materials from the book “Honorary Citizens of the Ryazan Region and the City of Ryazan” (Bio-bibliographic index / Gorky Regional Educational Science Library. - Ryazan, 2009).
V.F. Utkin was born on October 17, 1923 in the town of Pustobor, Kasimovsky district (now in the territory of the Kasimovsky district). His father worked as a planner-economist at an iron foundry, his mother took care of the house and raising four sons.
In 1932, he went to elementary school in the village of Lashma, where the family had moved by this time; in 1941, Utkin graduated with honors from secondary school No. 2 in Kasimov and became a cadet at the Ulyanovsk School of Communications. During the Great Patriotic War, Vladimir Fedorovich served as a senior mechanic at a military telegraph station in the 2787th Fighter Aviation Division and reached Berlin.
After demobilization, Utkin worked at vocational school No. 5 at the Lashman iron foundry. Since 1946, he has been a student at the rocket weapons department of the Leningrad Military Mechanical Institute (now the Baltic State Technical University "VOENMEH" named after D.F. Ustinov - BSTU "VOENMEH"). In the spring of 1952, he defended his diploma and was assigned to OKB-586 in Dnepropetrovsk, where he worked for 38 years. From 1954 to 1960 - head of a group, sector, department, since 1960 - deputy head and chief designer of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau.
In the period from 1971 to 1990 - chief, then - general designer of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau. Under his leadership, 4 generations of strategic missile systems, more than 80 types of military and scientific satellites were created, more than 300 spacecraft were launched into orbit, and several types of launch vehicles were created. With the direct participation of Vladimir Fedorovich, most types of missiles “SS74”, “SS79”, “SS718”, “SS724” were developed and put into service.
Since November 1990, Utkin has been the director of the Central Scientific Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering (TsNIIMash), the leading branch institute of rocket and space technology. In December 1994, an independent Russian-American commission was formed on the problems of ensuring joint manned flights, the co-chairs of which were Utkin and US astronaut T. Stafford. Under the leadership of Vladimir Fedorovich, the Russian rocket and space technology program was developed.
Utkin is the author of a number of major inventions. The list of his main scientific works contains about 200 titles. In 1964 he was awarded the academic degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences, in the same year he became a laureate of the Lenin Prize, and in 1981 - the USSR State Prize. Since 1972 - corresponding member, in 1976 - academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, in 1984 elected academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Vladimir Fedorovich was the president of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics. K.E. Tsiolkovsky, full member of the International Academy of Astronautics, honorary member of the Russian Academy of Rocket and Artillery Sciences.
Awarded six Orders of Lenin, two Orders of the Red Star, Order of the Patriotic War 2nd class, Red Banner of Labor, “For Services to the Fatherland” 2nd and 3rd class, 16 medals, honorary badge “Excellent Signalman”, laureate gold medal named after S.P. Queen. Twice Hero of Socialist Labor. By decision of the executive committee of the Ryazan City Council of People's Deputies No. 236 of May 27, 1987 “for outstanding contributions to science and technology, active social activities” V.F. Utkin was awarded the title “Honorary Citizen of the City of Ryazan”.
Bronze bust by sculptor K.I. Chekanev and architect A.I. Suponin was installed during the scientist’s lifetime on January 7, 1984 on K.E. Street. Tsiolkovsky in Ryazan. Monument in honor of Academician Utkin by architect B.S. Gorbunov opened in Kasimov on September 14, 2002 next to school No. 2 named after. V.F. Utkin, in which the museum of the Utkin brothers was created. In the museum of K.E. Tsiolkovsky Secondary School No. 16 in Ryazan has an exhibition dedicated to Utkin. The Ryazan City Council adopted a decision dated January 17, 2002 No. 16 to name the square opposite the Ryazan College of Industrial Technologies, Economics and Law after him.
In memory of the outstanding Russian scientist, on April 27, 2001, the Gold Medal named after Academician V.F. Utkin, awarded in two categories: “For contribution to the development of the economy and strengthening the country’s defense capability” and “For contribution to the development of the economy of the Ryazan region.” Silver medal named after academician V.F. Utkina is awarded in three categories: “For active public and journalistic activities on the problems of astronautics and the country’s military-industrial complex”, “For achievements in scientific and practical activities in astronautics” and “For the development and implementation of new equipment and technologies, the creation of modern highly efficient production facilities” , implementation of socially significant projects in the interests of the development of the Ryazan region.”
On August 21, 2002, the Ryazan Regional Duma adopted a resolution “On the establishment of the Ryazan Region Prizes in Science and Technology named after Academician V.F. Utkin" in order to perpetuate his memory and stimulate the development of the scientific, technical and production potential of the region in the field of high technology. Memorial plaques are installed on the facade of the administrative building of TsNIIMash, on the building of the Yuzhnoye State Clinical Hospital (Dnepropetrovsk), on the house in which Utkin lived, in the village of Lashma, Ryazan region. Streets in the city of Kasimov and the village of Lashma are named after him. Asteroid 13477 Utkin was named in his honor.
75-year-old Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin congratulates Alexey Fedorovich Utkin on his 70th birthday
More than thirty years ago, the design teams of our defense industry, under the leadership of the brothers Vladimir Fedorovich and Alexey Fedorovich Utkin, created the combat railway missile systems BZHRK "Molodets" (in the NATO classification "Scalpel") - "cosmodromes on wheels", which were terrifying with their elusiveness and combat power to the USA. The Americans did everything possible to destroy them. However, the Russians did not give up and in a few years (I really want to believe in this) a new generation of BZHRK will be released into the vastness of our country - the Barguzin missile systems.
In the history of the confrontation between the Soviet-Russian and American military engineering schools, there is one page that still evokes a feeling of deepest respect for domestic engineers and, at the same time, deepest shock and indignation at the actions of our politicians in the 90s of the last century. We are talking about the creation in the Soviet Union of combat railway missile systems (BZHRK) - a powerful weapon, the like of which has not yet been created in any country in the world, and about the fate of this greatest achievement of domestic engineering and technological thought.
Times are changing; in the early 90s, our potential opponents almost turned into friends, though also potential ones. We blew up mines, cut down rockets. And the Americans were thinking hard about how to decapitate our “Scalpel”. It was considered inappropriate to drive rocket railway cosmodromes throughout the country, and a decision was made to transfer the “Scalpels” to duty in restricted areas.
The main carriages of the BZHRK are those in which the PC-22 missile system (according to the Western classification "Scalpel") and the command post of the combat crew are located. “Scalpel” weighs more than a hundred tons and “reaches” a range of 10 thousand kilometers. The missiles are solid fuel, three-stage, with ten half-megaton individually targetable nuclear units on each. The Kostroma division had several such trains, and each of them had three launchers: twelve missiles, one hundred and twenty nuclear warheads. One can imagine the destructive power of these seemingly harmless-looking echelons! In addition to Kostroma, BZHRKs were deployed in two more places.
Attempts to adapt railway platforms as launch pads for rockets were made by engineers of Nazi Germany. In the Soviet Union, at the end of the 50s, this work was carried out at OKB-301 under the leadership of Semyon Lavochkin (the Burya cruise missile) and OKB-586 under the leadership of Mikhail Yangel (the creation of a specialized train for basing the R-12 medium-range ballistic missile).
However, true success in this direction was achieved only by the Utkin brothers - general designer of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin (Dnepropetrovsk), since 1990, head of the Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering of the Russian Space Agency and general designer of the Special Engineering Design Bureau (Leningrad), academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexey Fedorovich Utkin. Under the leadership of his older brother, the RT-23 intercontinental ballistic missile and its railway version, the RT-23UTTH (15Zh61, “Scalpel” according to NATO classification), were created. They decided to make the rocket engine using solid fuel, but there were no such developments in the design bureau at that time. Despite enormous difficulties, such an engine was created. A missile with a TPK must weigh no more than 150 tons, otherwise the railway track will not support it, which means new materials are needed; a rocket cannot be longer than an ordinary refrigerator car, but the design bureau did not create such short ones. Then they decided to remove the nozzles from the engines themselves, although the world practice of rocket science did not know such solutions. The head fairing protrudes from the other end of the car, it is impossible without it - there will be no accuracy, first they made it inflatable, but, according to calculations, it would not be able to overcome the barrier of nuclear explosions of the missile defense. Then a metal folding fairing was designed.
Under the leadership of his younger brother, a “cosmodrome on wheels” was created, capable of carrying three “Scalpels” and launching them from anywhere in the Soviet Union with a railway connection. Testing of components and assemblies of the future missile carrier began at the test site near Leningrad. There were a lot of questions: how to remove contact wires in electrified areas, how to lift a rocket into a vertical position in a matter of seconds, how to ensure a launch two minutes after the train stops? And the main thing is the start. How to prevent the fiery tail of a rocket from burning the sleepers like matches, and from melting the rails with its hellish temperature? And how to solve these issues? Decided! The powder engine pushes the rocket to a small height, the rocket maneuver engine is turned on, and the gas jet of the rocket's propulsion engine passes past the cars, container and railroad tracks. Finally, the main solution was found that crowned all the others and provided a margin of engineering strength for many years to come. After all, by that time no one in the world could create anything like this.
“I am proud that our teams solved this fantastically complex problem,” Vladimir Fedorovich later said. “We had to make this rocket train and we did it!”
The first missile train was put into service in 1987, the last - the 12th - was commissioned in 1992. The first reason for the appearance of the BZHRK in the USSR by the 70s of the last century was that a clear and fully reflective concept for the use of combat railway missile systems was formed. Soviet BZHRKs were “weapons of retaliation” that were to be used after a potential enemy launched a massive nuclear strike on the territory of the USSR. The country's extensive railway network made it possible to hide missile trains anywhere. Therefore, having appeared, practically out of nowhere, 12 Soviet BZHRKs carrying 36 intercontinental ballistic missiles (each of which carried 10 atomic fissile charges), in response to a nuclear strike by the United States and its allies, could literally wipe out any a European country that is a member of NATO, or several large US states. The second reason for the appearance of the BZHRK is the very high potential of Soviet military designers and engineers, and the availability of the necessary technologies for the serial production of such products. “The task that the Soviet government set before us was striking in its enormity. In domestic and world practice, no one has ever encountered so many problems. We had to place an intercontinental ballistic missile in a railway car, but the missile with its launcher weighs more than 150 tons. How to do it? After all, a train with such a huge load must travel along the national tracks of the Ministry of Railways. How to transport a strategic missile with a nuclear warhead in general, how to ensure absolute safety on the way, because we were given an estimated train speed of up to 120 km/h. Will the bridges hold up, will the track and the launch itself not collapse, how can the load be transferred to the railway track when the rocket is launched, will the train stand on the rails during the launch, how can the rocket be raised to a vertical position as quickly as possible after the train stops?” - General Designer of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin later recalled the questions that tormented him at that moment.
All these problems were successfully solved and twelve Soviet missile trains became a real headache for the Americans. The extensive railway network of the USSR (each train could travel 1 thousand km per day), the presence of numerous natural and artificial shelters did not allow their location to be determined with a sufficient degree of confidence, including with the help of satellites.
The first BZHRK 15P961 “Molodets” with an intercontinental ballistic missile 15Zh61 (RT-23 UTTH, SS-24 “Scalpel”) was put into service in the Soviet Union in 1987. By 1992, three missile divisions armed with BZHRK were deployed in our country: the 10th missile division in the Kostroma region, the 52nd missile division stationed in Zvezdny (Perm Territory), the 36th missile division, Kedrovy (Krasnoyarsk Territory) ). Each division had four missile regiments (a total of 12 BZHRK trains, three launchers each).
"Molodets" looked like an ordinary train consisting of several refrigerator and passenger cars. This composition included three three-car launch modules with RT-23UTTH ICBMs, a command module consisting of 7 cars, a tank car with reserves of fuel and lubricants, and three DM-62 diesel locomotives. The train and launcher were developed on the basis of a four-bogie eight-axle car with a carrying capacity of 135 tons by KBSM. The minimum launch module included three cars: a launcher control point, a launcher and a support unit. Each of the three launchers included in the BZHRK could launch both as part of a train and independently. When moving along the country's railway network, the BZHRK made it possible to quickly change the location of the starting position up to 1000 kilometers per day. At the same time, it was possible to identify the train specifically as a BZHRK only by the presence of a third locomotive in the train, or by paying attention by means of ground surveillance to refrigerator cars with eight wheel pairs (a regular freight car has four wheel pairs). Even reducing the mass of the rocket by 1.5 tons compared to the silo version and distributing the load of the launcher over eight axles of the car did not allow the designers to fully meet the permissible axial load on the track. To solve this problem, the BZHRK uses special “unloading” devices that redistribute part of the weight of the car with the launcher to adjacent cars. To ensure autonomous operation of the starting module, as well as a device for short-circuiting and discharging the contact network, the starting modules were equipped with four 100 kW diesel generators. The autonomy of the rocket train was 28 days.
The RT-23UTTH missile itself had a multiple individual target type warhead with ten warheads with a capacity of 0.43 Mt and a set of means to overcome missile defense. Firing range - 10100 km. The length of the rocket is 23 m. The launch weight of the rocket is 104.8 tons. The mass of the rocket with the launch container is 126 tons. Having received the order to launch missiles, the train stopped at any point on its route.
A special device was used to move the catenary suspension to the side, opening the roof of one of the refrigerator cars, from where the launch container with the rocket was lifted into a vertical position. After this, a mortar launch of the rocket was carried out. Coming out of the container, the rocket was deflected away from the train using a powder accelerator, and only after that the main engine was started.
And this technology made it possible to divert the jet of the rocket propulsion engine from the launch complex and thereby ensure the stability of the rocket train, the safety of people and engineering structures, including railway ones. From the moment the launch order was received until the rocket took off, no more than 3 minutes passed. The simulation showed US soldiers that even a simultaneous strike from two hundred Minuteman or MX missiles - and this is a total of 2,000 (!) warheads - is capable of disabling only 10% of the Molodtsov missiles. The remaining 90% of the BZHRK could be controlled only by using 18 additional reconnaissance satellites, which turned out to be unaffordable for the Americans. “The three-stage solid-fuel missile RT-23UTTH threw 10 warheads with a capacity of 430 thousand tons each to a distance of 10,100 km. And with an average deviation from the target of 150 meters. She had increased resistance to the effects of a nuclear explosion and was capable of independently restoring information in her electronic “brain” after it…” writes the Russian Arms news agency.
American engineers and the military were unable to create anything like this, although they tried. A prototype of the American BZHRK was tested at the US railway test site and the Western Missile Test Site (Vandenberg Air Force Base, California) until 1992. It consisted of two standard locomotives, two launch cars with the MX ICBM, a command post, support system cars and cars for personnel. At the same time, the Americans failed to create effective mechanisms for lowering the catenary network and retracting the missile during its launch away from the train and railway tracks, so the missiles were launched by American BZHRKs from specially equipped launch pads, which, of course, significantly reduced the factor of secrecy and surprise. In addition, unlike the USSR, the US has a less developed railway network, and the railways are owned by private companies. And this created many problems, ranging from the fact that civilian personnel would have to be involved to control the locomotives of the missile trains, to problems with the creation of a system for centralized control of combat patrols of the BZHRK and the organization of their technical operation.
This is how the Barguzin-Scalpels were destroyed under the supervision of the Americans.
The Pentagon spent more money on tracking the movements of the BZHRD than the Utkin brothers spent on creating these complexes. Twelve reconnaissance satellites searched for them throughout our country, and even from space they could not distinguish these ghost trains from ordinary refrigerators. And after the missile trains entered the Ministry of Railways, the Americans took an unprecedented action: under the guise of commercial cargo from Vladivostok, they sent containers in transit to one of the Scandinavian countries, one of which was stuffed with reconnaissance equipment for radio interception, analysis of the radiation situation and even filming through a secret membrane in the body of the spy container. But after the train departed from Vladivostok, the container was opened by our counterintelligence officers. The American idea failed.
The Americans tried to develop something similar to our BZHRK, but suffered a serious failure. And then they involved Gorbachev with the START-1 treaty, and then Yeltsin with START-2, which completed the defeat of the “retaliatory strike group.” As a result, first, at the insistence of Great Britain, since 1992, Russia has put its BZHRKs “on hold” - in places of permanent deployment, then - in 1993, under the START-2 treaty, it has committed itself to destroy all RT-23UTTH missiles within 10 years . And although this agreement, in fact, never entered into legal force, in 2003-2005 all Russian BZHRKs were removed from combat duty and disposed of. The appearance of two of them can now be seen only in the Museum of Railway Equipment at the Warsaw Station in St. Petersburg and in the AvtoVAZ Technical Museum.
In addition, on Yeltsin’s instructions, all work on the creation of such systems was prohibited. By the way, at the same time, most of the launch silos for the most powerful R-36M missiles at that time, which NATO received the designation SS-18 Mod.1,2,3 Satan, were eliminated - filled with concrete.
However, now, in 2017, over the past 12 years, the potential threat to our country has not decreased, rather the opposite. The Cold War has once again entered the international arena!
The United States professes the strategy of a “global disarming strike,” according to which a massive non-nuclear strike can suddenly be unleashed on the territory of a potential enemy. “The rearmament program, primarily of sea-based weapons, that the United States is pursuing allows them to reach a total volume of possible delivery to important facilities of the Russian Federation in the period 2015-2016 of about 6.5-7 thousand cruise missiles, with about 5 thousand - from sea carriers,” Pavel Sozinov, general designer of the Almaz-Antey air defense concern, emphasized to journalists at the end of last year.
This “winged swarm” can only be kept from attacking if the United States knows that it will definitely and guaranteed receive a retaliatory strike. Therefore, since 2012, work began in Russia to create a new generation of combat railway missile systems. Development work on this topic is being carried out by the main creator of Russian ICBMs, the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering (MIT). Unlike “Molodets”, “Barguzin” (that’s what the new missile train will be called) will be armed not with “Scalpels”, but with Yars-type missiles entirely of Russian design and production. They are twice as light as the RT-23UTTH, although they contain not 10, but 4 (according to open sources) multiple warheads. But they fly a thousand kilometers further. The new BZHRK complex, equipped with an ICBM with a multiple warhead, created on the basis of the Yars, will be disguised as a standard refrigerator car, the length of which is 24 meters with a missile length of 22.5 meters. A warhead carrying a non-nuclear weapon will be capable of hitting any target on the planet within an hour of receipt. The first new rocket train should be put into trial operation in 2018.
Judging by the available information, “Barguzin” in general - neither by cars, nor by diesel locomotives, nor by electromagnetic radiation, will not stand out from the total mass of freight trains, thousands of which are now scurrying along Russian railways every day. For example, “Molodets” was hauled by three DM62 diesel locomotives (a special modification of the serial M62 diesel locomotive) with a total power of 6 thousand hp. And the power of one current mainline freight two-section diesel locomotive 2TE25A “Vityaz”, which is mass-produced by Transmashholding, is 6,800 hp. And the mass of the Yars does not require additional reinforcement of either the transport cars or the railway tracks themselves along which the train passes. Therefore, soon our country will again have another powerful “argument” in the conversation about peace on our planet.
It was, as our wise people say, a saying, and my story is ahead!
And now, dear readers, it is with great pleasure that I will tell you about the fate of wonderful people, great patriots of Russia, outstanding rocketry designers of the famous school of St. Petersburg Military Mechanics - the Utkin brothers.
With your permission, I will begin my story about Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin.
Chief designer of the Molodets BZHRD and the SS-18 silo missile system (Satan in the NATO classification), chief-chief designer of the Dnepropetrovsk Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and head of the Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering of the Russian Space Agency (AND THIS IS ALL ABOUT ONE PERSON!) Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin born on October 17, 1923 in the village of Pustobor (now does not exist, land of the Kasimovsky district of the Ryazan region) on the banks of the beautiful Oka, just 30 km from the village of Izhevsky, where K. E. Tsiolkovsky was born 66 years earlier and not far away (110 km) from the village of Konstantinovo - the birthplace of the great Russian poet Sergei Yesenin.
Vladimir Fedorovich was born into the family of a worker Fyodor Dementievich (1886-1940) and a housewife Anisya Efimovna (1893-1981). Russian. His childhood and youth were spent on the banks of the Oka in the working-class village of Lashme, where his father got a job as a worker at an iron foundry, and in the city of Kasimov, where Vladimir studied at secondary school No. 2.
Father - Utkin Fedor Dementievich (1896-1940), began his career at the age of 14, worked at factories in the villages of Kletino, Pustobor, Ryazan region, and later was a planner-economist at an iron foundry in the village of Lashma. Mother - Utkina (Lashina) Anisiya Efimovna (1894-1981), spent her entire life raising four sons and running a household.
The elder brother is Nikolai Fedorovich Utkin (1919-1989), professor, for 19 years he worked as vice-rector of the Military Mech - the Baltic State Technical University in our modern interpretation.
Younger brother - Pyotr Fedorovich Utkin (1925-1974), served in the Armed Forces of the USSR, lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Army.
The younger brother, Alexey Fedorovich Utkin (1928-2014), chief designer of the special engineering design bureau, designed the launch complex and rolling stock for the Combat Railway Missile Complex.
Grandfather, Dementy Vasilyevich Utkin, was a peasant; in the last years of his life he worked as a driver. Having built a barge with his sons, he brought food and clothing from Moscow and other cities to the Kasimovsky district, and from the Lashman iron foundry he transported cast iron, boilers, etc. to many cities in Russia. He was a hardworking person, he also raised his sons in work and honesty, therefore the business was progressing successfully. In the 30s, the barge was requisitioned from Dementy Vasilyevich.
Russian outback, the town of Kasimov on the banks of the beautiful Oka.
Vladimir spent his childhood in the village of Lashma, Kasimovsky district, Ryazan region. I went to junior high school in the neighboring village of Kurman, which had a very strong group of teachers. Oskin Vasily Frolovich is a powerful mathematician, who laid a strong mathematical foundation for his brothers.
From an early age, Vladimir, like all his brothers and sisters, was accustomed to hard rural work, being equally skilled with a scythe, an ax and a shovel, and was fond of aircraft modeling, skiing and fishing (their home was located right on the banks of the Oka, near the backwater).
The Oka River is clean and fast, a beauty and a nurse. From early childhood, the Utkin brothers fished: they mastered this simple and entertaining craft well. At that time, sterlet was not uncommon in the Oka. In winter, they ran around the thin people with beaters, hammers, spears - they stifled and dragged larger fish. The river was clean. They took care of the river, knowing full well that the cleanliness of the river is the guarantee that water can be scooped up from the river and on the ear and drunk on a hot summer day without fear.
And the banks of the river are covered with bushes and thick grass. Thick grass along the ravines and inaccessible areas near the river in the summer is prey for boys and a source of food for domestic animals and birds, without which a large family cannot feed itself. From childhood, Vladimir and his brothers were involved in difficult peasant work, they knew how to mow well and quickly - their height and strength allowed them to do this very effectively, which was a source of pride for the boy. Therefore, already in adulthood, at the dacha and near Dnepropetrovsk and in the Moscow region, Vladimir Fedorovich always had a boat and a scythe at hand and in excellent condition. And Vladimir Fedorovich always combined mental work during the short summer rest with mowing, physical rural labor and fishing, which he loved since childhood, in which he was very strong and lucky.
Vladimir among teachers and classmates of the Loshmanov School
In high school, Vladimir studied at secondary school No. 2 in the city of Kasimov, which was eighteen kilometers from Lashma. Vladimir walked home on weekends from Kasimov in winter and summer to Lashma, these 18 kilometers! Now this school bears the name of V.F. Utkina. Vladimir was involved in aircraft modeling at school. He dreamed of studying and becoming an aircraft designer; at that time this profession was considered the most prestigious among technically gifted youth.
During school time, the brothers helped their parents with everything; rural work is varied and labor-intensive. The iron foundry where my father worked required a large number of grate wicker baskets. The factory paid 3 rubles per basket. The brothers got together, the eldest Nikolai planned to weave 10 baskets a day, planned the preparation, cutting, and cleaning of the rods. 30 rubles a day was a serious help for the family budget. Nikolai and Vladimir made the base of the baskets, weaved the sides, and the younger ones, Peter and Alexei, had to seal the bottom part. This is how the guys received their first lessons in planning their work and their first earned money. Vladimir was exempt from tuition fees in the 10th grade for his hard work on the collective farm and making baskets for the factory. Back then, high school had tuition fees...
In 1940, the head of the family, Fedor Dementievich, died suddenly. The head of the family was the elder brother Nikolai, who always enjoyed well-deserved authority in the family and was a real kind genius and lifesaver for his mother and younger brothers, who always appeared throughout life with his help and his wise, practical advice. After school, Nikolai went to study at the Moscow Higher Technical School, then worked in Leningrad as a teacher at the famous higher technical school of the Soviet defense industry - Voenmekh.
The graduation party was at school, at 4 am the graduates went for a walk on a barge, which stood in the thickets of flowering bird cherry trees. Heavy planes flew overhead towards Moscow...
And in the morning the graduates learned that the War had begun...
At the end of June, Vladimir fell ill with malaria. When the summons arrived from the Kasimovsky military registration and enlistment office, Vladimir was lying in a fever. At the military registration and enlistment office they asked: “Whoever is sick must leave the ranks!”
No one came out... When we arrived in Ulyanovsk, the malaria disappeared. Apparently climate change had an impact. This is such an amazing phenomenon and the reserves of a young body! A great patriotic spirit was inherent in that generation.
In August, Vladimir took the oath and was sent to the communications school, then to the 21st separate communications regiment. Yesterday's schoolboy became a military telegraph operator, a sergeant of the 49th separate communications company of the 278th Stalin Red Banner Siberian Order of Suvorov II degree fighter aviation division of the Reserve Headquarters of the Supreme High Command and went through the combat path from Volkhov to Berlin, in the positions of telegraph mechanic, telegraph operator of the 23rd, then -by the end of the war, Sergeant Major V.F. Utkin served as head of the telegraph of the same company.
He received his first medal for reconnaissance in force. He told his daughter that the war left a lasting feeling of severe cold in my memory, since I had to spend a lot of time in open space, in the field and in frozen trenches, I had to dig a lot of trenches in my native frozen soil...
Front-line everyday life of signalman V. Utkin
He fought: on the Volkhov Front (until December 1942);
North Caucasus Front (from January to July 1943);
Southern and 4th Ukrainian fronts (from July 1943 to May 1944);
3rd Belorussian Front (from May to October 1944);
1st Belorussian (since October 1944).
In 1945 V.F. Utkin became a member of the CPSU(b).
For the courage and bravery shown on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, Senior Sergeant Utkin was awarded two Orders of the Red Star, the Order of the Patriotic War, II degree, and medals.
1946 Leningrad. Demobilized sergeant major Vladimir with his younger brother, conscript corporal Pyotr Utkin.
In 1946, Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin was demobilized.
“Having gone through this most difficult test, we - the people, our country, our citizens - came out, healing our wounds, with the thought that there should never be anything like what we experienced.
And the moment came, which is called in history the Cold War. He forced our country to develop weapons more terrible than anything we saw in the Patriotic War.
Our people were afraid of a repeat of the war: all this was too expensive.”
In this phrase from the memoirs of Vladimir Fedorovich Vladimir, written already in his mature years, Fedorovich gathered everything: the difficulties of the war, and the fate of his friends, and his own post-war fate.
Returning to his native village of Lashma, Kasimovsky district, Ryazan region, he got a job as a senior commandant at Lashmansky vocational school No. 5. In 1946, he entered the Faculty of Jet Weapons of the Leningrad Military Mechanical Institute.
Excellent students of the Leningrad Military Mech V. Utkin and V. Zhuk
In his free time from studying, Vladimir Fedorovich and his brother Alexei Fedorovich (at that time also a student of Military Mechanics) worked part-time unloading cars at the Leningrad Record Plant.
At the institute, front-line soldier Vladimir Utkin stood out among the students for his excellent grades, creative, thoughtful and responsible attitude to the educational process. Combining his studies with design and, as we would now say, managerial work - receiving orders from industry for the institute - he acquired not only rich knowledge, but also important engineering experience.
Students of the Leningrad Military Mech Alexey and Vladimir Utkin (third and fourth from left). Photo from 1948.
Internship and pre-graduation work by V.F. Utkin took place at the 4th Research Institute of the Academy of Artillery Sciences of the Ministry of the Armed Forces of the USSR (now the 4th Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, in the city of Kaliningrad (currently the city of Korolev, Moscow region, Yubileiny microdistrict) which already then became the unofficial capital of domestic rocketry, where he was assigned to work, receiving a diploma as a mechanical engineer in 1952. He was in good standing at the 4th Central Research Institute, but the tasks assigned to him here were clearly an auxiliary role that was destined him as a civilian specialist in a military team, plus the fact that the young family chronically lacked funds to pay for rented housing, which was not cheap in the Moscow region, stimulated Vladimir Utkin to make the decision to transfer to the newly created SKB-586 in Dnepropetrovsk, where he plunged headlong into organizing mass production of the R-2, the best rocket of that time, developed at OKB-1 by S.P. Korolev. The chief designer of SKB V.S. Budnik quickly noticed the young specialist’s engineering acumen, his organizational skills, and the authority he immediately gained in the team and began to entrust him with independent responsible work.
These years were perhaps the most stressful in his life (for months he had to work 14-15 hours a day), but it was they who strengthened him and predetermined the success of all subsequent activities. After all, at that time the country did not specifically train organizers and leaders, and university engineering training was not enough for this. Therefore, for the development of young leaders (of course, if they have the necessary technical knowledge and creative talent), the experience of working with people, including along the party and Komsomol lines, which in scientific and design teams was not so much of an ideological apparatus nature, but was directed to optimize and improve the level of industrial relations.
The Utkin family - brothers (from left to right) Alexey, Peter, Vladimir and the eldest Nikolai with their wives, first-born children and mother Anisya Efimovna.
V.P. and V.F. Utkins - wedding photo 1949
Vladimir grew quickly, starting to work as an ordinary design engineer, senior engineer, then headed various research and development units as a group leader, head of a sector. He was distinguished by excellent design data, excellent theoretical training, high dedication, had a high level of organizational skills, and front-line experience had a positive impact. In 1954, an experimental design bureau was organized on the basis of SKB, headed by Mikhail Kuzmich Yangel, in which Utkin, as an already experienced specialist, immediately began to play a significant role. In 1961, at the age of 37, Utkin became Yangel's deputy, and in 1967 - first deputy chief designer. At this time, M.K. Yangel was already seriously ill a lot, and the responsibility for the work of the team gradually fell more and more on the shoulders of the first deputy.
Chief designer of SKB-586 M.K. Yangel
1955 with daughter Natasha at the May Day demonstration
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in August 1969, Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal.
V.F. Utkin participated in preparations for the flights of the first manned spacecraft-satellites "Vostok", including the flight of the world's first cosmonaut Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin.
Organized to create missile weapons, SKB-586, following the R-12, created the R-14 missile with twice the range, up to 4000 km, after which it was faced with a much more difficult task - to begin creating the R-16 intercontinental missile on the same principles. According to the customer’s plans, with equal technical characteristics, it was supposed to be superior in ease of use to the R-9, OKB-1’s new oxygen-kerosene rocket. It would seem that with such tasks the young team could not think about anything else, but time was already calling to space...
When it became obvious that small satellites for solving many scientific and defense problems would have advantages over large ones and launching them using the R-7 would be wasteful, design developments for them were transferred from OKB-1 to OKB-586, which again The task was set to develop a light and cheapest launch vehicle. This was successfully resolved in March 1962 with the creation of the Cosmos launch vehicle (LV) with the R-12U as the first stage and a new second stage. The design of the carrier and the simplest “satellite” (DS-1) was carried out under the leadership of V. M. Kovtunenko. The divisions led by Utkin developed its design, paying special attention to the reliability and safety of working with it. This direction became the main one for Vladimir Fedorovich’s work for a long time, since he was personally entrusted with the task of ensuring that strategic missiles were stored ready for launch for five or more years, and therefore filled with liquid fuel components that are extremely aggressive to all materials. The United States also tried to solve this problem with the Titan-M ICBM, but after the disaster they recognized this as unrealistic and completely switched to solid fuels for all strategic missiles. We managed to solve the problem by involving many academic and departmental research institutes and design bureaus of metallurgical, physical-chemical, chemical and other areas in the work. The research concerned the physics of the flow of gases and liquids in microcapillaries, intercrystalline and intracrystalline corrosion, the influence of the composition and quality of materials on their permeability. Methods for experimental research and calculations were developed, tightness standards were determined for various materials and fuel components, requirements for metallurgical semi-finished products and production technology, testing and control of fuel tanks, pipelines, valves and other hydraulic fittings, as well as in-tank measuring instruments. At this time, Vladimir Fedorovich practically could not be found in his office. He was always there where it was necessary to make the next decision that determined the further progress of work: in laboratories, workshops, at testing sites, day and night, on weekdays and holidays. It was unclear when he rested: in the hotel, on the train, and on the plane he was always surrounded by employees, listening to someone, giving instructions and advice to someone, convincing someone. And the problem considered, like many others, no less complex, was solved within a very realistic time frame...
Rare moments of rest. Dnepropetrovsk Fishing, 70s
The general’s special concern was relations with customers, on which it depended which of the OKB’s promising projects, supported by TsNIIMash research, would receive the right to be implemented. They received the “right to life” after flight tests, the management of which constituted the most important aspect of the multifaceted activity of the general designer of rocket and space complexes, surpassing in the degree of responsibility, the strain of all spiritual and physical forces, all the others combined. The test launches sum up the results of many years of persistent, focused work of many tens of thousands of specialists not only from the head design bureau and the manufacturing enterprise (usually the Yuzhny Machine-Building Plant production association), but also from huge cooperation throughout the country. The next step of the Dnepropetrovsk residents into space was the creation of a launch vehicle based on the R-14 rocket, called “Intercosmos” in open publications. This launch vehicle turned out to be successful and, starting in 1964, successfully launched into orbit many Dnepropetrovsk and Krasnoyarsk satellites with a mass of up to 1 ton.
In the early 60s. S.P. Korolev began to create a new grandiose rocket and space system based on the super-heavy launch vehicle N-1 ("Earth and Universe", 1993, No. 4, p. 62, No. 5, p. 77), whose first task was supposed to be the implementation of a lunar expedition. According to his calculations, this program should have become a matter for the entire industry. He hoped that M.K. Yangel would take on his team the development of all the rocket units of the orbital part of the system (they had previously agreed on this). But at the last moment, citing overload with defense orders, M.K. Yangel took up only the development of the rocket part of the lunar spacecraft LK, and, to their credit, the Dnepropetrovsk team coped with this task perfectly. And although B.I. Gubanov was directly responsible for the development of the design of the rocket block “E”, and I.I. Ivanov was responsible for its engines, the first deputy chief designer V.F. Utkin also had to create this unique object, which in 1970-71 gg. passed successful flight tests in low-Earth orbit as part of the experimental T-2K spacecraft.
Academician V.P. Glushko presents Vladimir Fedorovich with a commemorative medal of the GDL-OKB 09/11/1981.
Korolev counted on the widespread participation of Dnepropetrovsk residents in the lunar program, which would probably contribute to its more successful implementation. But at the insistence of the main developer of powerful liquid-propellant rocket engines, Academician V.P. Glushko, who at that time faced serious difficulties in creating oxygen engines, but succeeded in creating nitrogen-tetroxide engines (the use of which on heavy carriers was categorically opposed by S.P. Korolev), M.K. Yangel decided to develop a project for his heavy carrier R-56, an alternative, like the Chelomeevsky UR-700, to the N-1 project. Unfortunately, nothing came of this rivalry other than a dispersal of forces that was far from the interests of the state.
On October 25, 1971, the scientist and outstanding rocketry designer M.K. Yangel passed away. After the death of the Chief, the question of who should lead the enterprise was resolved almost automatically. Utkin did not initiate any fundamental restructuring; on the contrary, he tried to support the well-established work of the team and the entire huge cooperation of subcontractors, and to strengthen the established traditions.
On October 29, 1971, Vladimir Fedorovich was appointed Chief Designer and Head, and on November 14, 1979, Vladimir Fedorovich was appointed to the position of General Designer and Head of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau (which since 1991 has been named after M.K. Yangel).
Yuzhnoye Design Bureau achieved new success by returning to its basic principles of developing launch vehicles based on combat missiles. This made it possible to create media with minimal cost and time. Cost reduction was achieved by using combat missile stages as part of the carrier after they were removed from duty or stored after the expiration of the warranty period with appropriate repairs or reprocessing. In 1972, the two-stage SS-9 ICBM, capable of launching a load of up to 3 tons into the reference orbit, was adapted for a two-stage carrier, due to relatively minor modifications. Together with the improvement of this machine, which turned it into an outstanding achievement of engineering - the heavy SS-9 ICBM 18, the launch vehicle based on its rocket units, called the “Cyclone,” was also being improved.
With a launch weight of 188 tons, the Cyclone launch vehicle, put into operation in 1980, became capable of launching 4 tons of payload into the reference orbit. But this was not its qualitative advantage compared to all previously created ones. In the Cyclone rocket and space complex, the launch positions of which were built at the Plesetsk cosmodrome, the safety of preparing the rocket for launch, which V.F. Utkin always tried to carry out, was brought to the limit. In terms of the degree of mechanization and automation of all work, with the complete “desertation” of the launch complex, “Cyclone” had no analogues in the entire world of rocket and space technology. After assembling the rocket and space system directly on the railway transport and installation unit in a horizontal position, including rocket units of three stages, the spacecraft and the nose fairing protecting it and the third stage, it is delivered to the launch site, where all further technological operations are carried out automatically: installation into a vertical position and docking of all electrical, pneumatic and hydraulic communications of the rocket with the stationary communications of the launch facility, its aiming, refueling with fuel components and launch. Work management and monitoring of their implementation are carried out by an automated control system with a digital computing device according to a special cyclogram in uniform time coordinates. This ensures that the Cyclone can be launched at a precisely specified moment at any time of the year or day, under any meteorological conditions, with wind speeds near the Earth up to 20 m/s. The rocket's high-precision control system and multi-mode propulsion system of its third stage make it possible to accurately launch a payload of up to 4 tons into a variety of circular and elliptical orbits with perigee altitudes from 200 to 3000 km and apogee altitudes from 200 to 8000 km. All these qualities allowed the domestic astronautics to enter a new stage: to move from single, albeit frequent, spacecraft launches to permanent orbital constellations for defense and national economic purposes.
V.F. Utkin at a meeting of the State Commission with generals Yu.A. Yashin and A.S. Matrenin
The next step in the development of domestic transport space systems was the development of a unified range of them according to a single plan with the participation of the main rocket manufacturing companies. The first in this series was the new two-stage launch vehicle designed by V. F. Utkin “Zenit-2”. Injecting up to 13.8 tons into reference orbit with a launch mass of 459 tons, it belongs to the middle class. After the failure to create the N-1, Zenit is the first domestic carrier designed specifically as a space transport system for launching into orbit automatic and manned spacecraft of various types and purposes. It was developed on the basis of the first-stage universal rocket unit Zenit-1, jointly designed by specialists from NPO Yuzhnoye and NPO Energia. For this purpose, the world's most powerful oxygen-kerosene liquid-propellant rocket engine RD-170 with a thrust of 740-806 tons was created. With a diameter of 3.9 m and a length of 33 m, the block has a launch weight of 353 tons. The launch weight of the second stage of the Zenit-2 launch vehicle is 90 t with a length of 11 m and the same diameter.
As a developer and head of research, Utkin was directly involved in the creation of modern launch vehicles and spacecraft. Under his leadership, four strategic missile systems were developed and put into service, ensuring parity of domestic nuclear missile forces with the corresponding US forces, and several launch vehicles were created. The latest developments are the highly efficient, environmentally friendly Zenit launch vehicle, capable of launching 12 tons of payload into low-Earth orbit, the RT-23 solid-fuel rocket (according to the NATO classification SS-24), which was equipped with the Molodets combat railway missile systems, and the highly efficient strategic missile R-36M (according to NATO classification SS-18 “Satan”), which has no analogues in the United States. In the field of spacecraft, various defense and scientific satellites have been commissioned. In total, more than three hundred devices of the Cosmos family were launched into various orbits, which make up a significant part of the total number of satellites in this series.
The strategy of designer-scientist V.F. Utkin is to find alternative optimal scientific and technical solutions at minimal cost.
A special place in world defense technology is occupied by the missile system created at the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau - a two-stage liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The firing range, depending on the mass of the warhead, can reach 16 thousand km. It has increased survivability in a nuclear explosion and has the technical capabilities to overcome US missile defense. Its payload mass is twice that of the American MX. To prevent the monstrous power of the rocket's engines from damaging the silo launcher, a mortar launch was used. According to American experts, this is the best missile weapon in the world.
The NATO command, being strongly impressed by the capabilities of the Soviet 18M ICBM, assigned it its own index - Satan, that is, “Satan”. The shock caused by the appearance of this missile forced the leadership of the United States of America to negotiate on strategic arms limitation. And Vladimir Fedorovich himself said: “We made “Satan” so that such weapons would never be used.”
V.F. Utkin is an active participant in work in the field of international cooperation in the research and development of outer space. A significant event was the implementation of the extensive Intercosmos program, which was a significant contribution to the joint exploration of near-Earth space by scientists from different countries. In collaboration with French scientists, the Arcade project was implemented with the help of the Eagle satellite.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated August 12, 1976, Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin was awarded the Order of Lenin and the second gold medal “Hammer and Sickle”.
In 1976 he was elected a full member (academician) of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, in 1984 - academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
Heads of the Dneprpetrovsk Rocket and Space Center Director of YuMZ A.M. Makarov and General Designer of Yuzhnoye Design Bureau V.F. Utkin
Since 1986, he has been the general director and general designer of NPO Yuzhnoye. Utkin took an active part in the work on the use of defense scientific and technical developments in the interests of science and the national economy: in the creation of the Cyclone launch vehicle based on the SS-9, the Cosmos-1500 satellite, used to withdraw a caravan of ships from the ice of the East -Siberian Sea.
The next step in the development of domestic transport space systems was the development of a unified range of them according to a single plan with the participation of the main rocket manufacturing companies. The first in this series was the new two-stage launch vehicle designed by V. F. Utkin “Zenit-2”. Injecting up to 13.8 tons into reference orbit with a launch mass of 459 tons, it belongs to the middle class. After the failure to create the N-1, Zenit is the first domestic carrier designed specifically as a space transport system for launching into orbit automatic and manned spacecraft of various types and purposes. It was developed on the basis of the first-stage universal rocket unit Zenit-1, jointly designed by specialists from NPO Yuzhnoye and NPO Energia. For this purpose, the world's most powerful oxygen-kerosene liquid-propellant rocket engine RD-170 with a thrust of 740-806 tons was created. With a diameter of 3.9 m and a length of 33 m, the block has a launch weight of 353 tons.
General designer V.F. Utkin at the model of the Zenit launch vehicle
The launch mass of the second stage of the Zenit-2 launch vehicle is 90 tons with a length of 11 m and the same diameter. The creation of the Zenit launch vehicle, which has become the most advanced rocket in its class, is of utmost importance not only in itself, but also as a step towards creation of a super-heavy launch vehicle "Energia". The universal Zenit-1 block, which went through a full cycle of development, ground and flight tests as part of the Zenit-2 launch vehicle since 1985, was then used in the amount of four side blocks as the first stage of the Energia launch vehicle. Moreover, the launch complexes of Zenit and Energia use the same principles of complete mechanization and automation that were first used in Cyclone.
Academician Vladimir Utkin on the right and his first deputy at the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau B.I. Gubanov.
The continuity of the work of the Dnepropetrovsk and Kaliningrad teams was reflected in the transfer of Utkin’s deputy B.I. Gubanov to NPO Energia. Gubanov became the chief designer of this powerful rocket, which made successful flights in 1988 and 1989.
Vladimir Fedorovich himself, whose scope of activity has long gone beyond the scope of one, even the largest and most advanced, NPO, moved to Moscow in 1990 and headed the main scientific institute of the Russian Space Agency - TsNIIMashinostroeniya, which is a complex of scientific centers developing almost all theoretical and experimental areas of rocket and space science, including space flight control and the development of the Russian federal space program.
In 1990-2000 V.F. Utkin is the director of the Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering of the Russian Space Agency.
At the MCC with Marshal of the Strategic Missile Forces I. Sergeev
Patriarchs of domestic rocket science S.A. Afanasyev, V.F. Utkin, B.E. Chertok
He took an active part in restructuring the management of the country's rocket and space industry in new economic conditions, and made a significant contribution to the development of programs for scientific and applied research and experiments on board the Mir and ISS manned orbital stations and the Russian Federal Space Program. Under his leadership, the institute conducted scientific research in various sections of the Federal program, carried out research and development work with the aim of creating experimental special-purpose devices. As part of the agreements reached with the United States, scientific and technical “support” was provided for key problems related to the International Space Station (ISS).
Having become the head of the Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering in Korolev near Moscow in 1990, Vladimir Fedorovich made a great contribution to the further reduction of nuclear missile confrontation and to the development of international agreements on the implementation of peaceful space projects. The merits and experience of the designer, scientist and thinker V.F. Utkin, his authority in international scientific and government circles largely determined his participation in various commissions, committees and forums on the development of rocket and space technology. By this time he was already widely known in the rocket and space industry. Vladimir Fedorovich headed the leading research institute of the rocket and space industry during the difficult time of the collapse of the USSR. However, his work in the new place was successful, which was facilitated by long-standing contacts between the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and TsNIIMash during the work on creating a new generation of strategic missile systems that ensured parity of domestic nuclear forces, as well as several types of space launch vehicles and vehicles.
Deputy General Director of TsNIIMash for Science, Academician Nikolai Apollonovich Anfimov recalls: “In all these works, Vladimir Fedorovich and the staff of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau worked closely with TsNIImash: both in the process of design search, in determining ways to satisfy the increased tactical and technical characteristics included in the technical the customer’s assignment, both during design calculations and during experimental development and testing of the complexes being created. The institute’s aerodynamicists, strength engineers, speakers and thermal engineers had especially close ties with the “southerners.” All design bureau developments were tested in the process of calculations and experiments at TsNIIMash.”
In the office of the Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering
As director of TsNIIMash, V.F. Utkin did a lot to preserve the integrity of the industry's leading research institute in the new economic conditions, made a significant contribution to the development of programs for scientific and applied research and experiments on board the Mir orbital manned stations and the ISS, became president of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics named after K.E. Tsiolkovsky. Despite all the difficulties of the “era of change,” it was during the period of Utkin’s directorship at TsNIIMash that serious progress occurred in some areas of work.
Convinced that the institute, along with research work, needs to take on a leading role in one or another development work, Vladimir Fedorovich launched research and development work at the institute to ensure the creation of experimental special-purpose aircraft based on critical technologies and key elements of the new generation. As a result, TsNIIMash won a competition from one of the most authoritative design bureaus in this field of technology and received a corresponding state order, which gave work to a number of departments of the institute and related organizations.
Sea launch
Unique results were achieved in issues related to the GLONASS space navigation system. These tasks are solved by the team of the department of navigation satellite systems as part of the same MCC (more precisely, MCC-M), familiar to everyone from television reports about the next launch of astronauts to the Mir station or the ISS. Navigation based on artificial Earth satellites is rightly called the Third Scientific and Technological Revolution of the late twentieth century. Work on high-precision determination of satellite orbits based on laser measurements began in 1990. The high level of results and active participation in international cooperation have led to the fact that TsUP-M has been an official participant in the work of the International Earth Rotation Service since 1994.
It is impossible not to note the very important role of V.F. Utkin in the organization of conversion developments at TsNIIMash. In particular, the work of the strength units related to solving problems that have arisen in the nuclear industry, as well as ensuring the safe operation of hydraulic structures in Russia, is of great importance. Together with the Lenhydrostal organization, projects were developed and more than 60 new generation sluice gates with a guaranteed service life of 100 years were put into operation. A number of possible failures of sluice systems on major rivers with unpredictable catastrophic consequences have been prevented.
Vladimir Fedorovich devoted a lot of energy to international cooperation in the field of space. Under the leadership of the director of TsNIIMash, a scientific and technical examination of the safety of international space flights on board the domestic orbital manned complex "Mir" and the international space station (ISS) was organized. All this was done within the framework of the joint Russian-American Utkin-Stafford Commission, named after the names of its co-chairs.
Performance at the Space Center. Kennedy Florida USA
In 1997, the work of the Utkin-Stafford Commission in the USA took place in an unofficial setting
Heading the Coordination Scientific and Technical Council (CSTC) of Roscosmos and the Russian Academy of Sciences for research and experiments on the Mir station and the Russian segment of the ISS, Vladimir Fedorovich supervised the consideration and selection of proposals from Russian scientists to conduct research and experiments on board orbital stations. Under the auspices of the KNTS, a large amount of work was carried out on the formation and implementation of scientific research programs, including with the participation of international partners. Vladimir Fedorovich knew how to set tasks and organize work in a way that was interesting to everyone.
Sometimes those present at the KNTS could not always immediately grasp the problem as a whole, so debates arose. Vladimir Fedorovich always listened to the speakers to the end, and then, as it sometimes seemed, he authoritarianly summed up the discussions with literally one or two succinct phrases.
Everyone who interacted with Vladimir Fedorovich during his work at TsNIIMash noted his rare commitment and clarity in his work, deep knowledge and enormous interest not only in those areas of science and technology that he had to cover by the nature of his activity. The academician was a widely educated person, he knew and loved poetry, theater and cinema. Proving the feasibility of making certain technical decisions, he often cited historical and literary examples, figurative comparisons, memories from his Ryazan youth as additional arguments, and always to the point.
While in high positions of government leadership, becoming a General Designer and a major scientist, remaining demanding of himself, his colleagues and subordinates, Vladimir Fedorovich in life was a simple and approachable person, he followed and deeply studied new areas of science and technology, loved art, theater, I read poetry very well. I could spend hours reciting the works of my favorite fellow countryman Sergei Yesenin. For example, according to the testimony of his colleagues, he could read his favorite poem “Anna Snegina” from memory.
May 9 is the main holiday of front-line soldiers. Generals at barbecue Yu.A. Mozzhorin, V.F. Utkin, V.A. Menshikov
Vladimir Fedorovich became a Doctor of Technical Sciences, a full member of the Academies of Sciences of the USSR, Ukraine and Russia. His outstanding achievements were twice awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. He is a laureate of the Lenin and State Prizes of the USSR and Ukraine, holder of six Orders of Lenin, Orders of the Patriotic War of the 1st and 2nd degrees, 2 Orders of the Red Star, 14 medals.
In the history of the twentieth century, the name V.F. Utkina is on a par with the names of the great designers of rocket and space technology S.P. Koroleva, M.K. Yangelya, V.P. Glushko, V.N. Chelomeya, V.P. Makeeva.
In Soviet times, General Secretary L.I. Brezhnev, who knew very well the state of affairs in the rocket and space field, also knew its personnel and their capabilities well. Brezhnev did not always conduct polite conversations with leading experts; he also used pressure, and even what kind of pressure, if the situation required it. Extremely concerned about the lag behind the United States in the production and quality of combat missile systems, Brezhnev summoned V. Utkin for a conversation. From the very first words, the conversation, according to Utkin’s recollections, took on a harsh character. After several introductory phrases, Brezhnev, according to Utkin, literally said the following in an unkind tone: “If you do not eliminate our gap with the United States in the design and production of more powerful and reliable missiles than theirs, then we will put you against the wall.” Without allowing Utkin to say a single word, he sent him “...to think and do things.” Until his very last hour, Utkin remained confident that Brezhnev would have done just that. But Utkin solved this problem. It is unlikely that Brezhnev would have decided to carry out his threat, which was most likely psychological in nature.
The formidable "Satan" - the rocket masterpiece of Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin - is launching
The United States has always highly valued the work and technical genius of the general designers of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau. However, their high assessment was rude and was expressed as follows: “This hornet’s nest must be destroyed in the first minutes of the attack on the Soviets.” It was a target for destruction, listed among the top ten most important targets in the USSR. Remember how the secrets of the rocket technology of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and Yuzhmash used to be protected: not a single football match with the participation of a foreign team was held in Dnepropetrovsk. To the hundred thermonuclear arrows aimed at the heart of the USSR by the Americans, Utkin responded with a much larger number of missile arrows, including the arrows of his famous “Satan” (“Governor”), which immediately cooled the warlike ardor of the United States. They respected strength always and everywhere. Moreover, Utkin’s missile arrows were too tough for the vaunted American missile defense system. The United States could not repel an attack by Soviet Voevoda-class missiles with technical means then, and there is reason to believe that this is not possible today. Even then, the leaders of the USSR argued that the Union had adequate ways to respond, and they really did exist, and it was not, as some experts liked to claim, “red propaganda.”
But Utkin’s rocket was difficult to conceive; completely new alloys were needed, not previously used anywhere, and it was not just a matter of alloys. Utkin quickly enough begins to conduct flight design tests of the new rocket. The first launch of the “Voevoda” (according to the Soviet classification) and ... - a rocket explosion on the launch pad. Brezhnev didn’t even raise his famous eyebrow; the Secretary General was an understanding missile specialist. The second launch and failure again, Brezhnev silently endures this missile failure, without interfering or urging Utkin. And the third and all subsequent launches went brilliantly. There were, of course, some shortcomings, not without this, but these were mostly “small things”. It was then that the formidable “Russian “Voevoda” turned into “SATAN,” so terrible for the Americans.
The endless headache for the United States from Utkin’s missiles did not go away for a long time. The combat railway missile systems designed by Utkin alone can instill in any potential adversary a feeling of complete insecurity from an inevitable retaliatory strike. Imagine an ordinary passenger train. One to one the same composition, but instead of passengers carrying missiles with military specialists serving them. Try to distinguish a missile train among tens of thousands of similar trains moving around the country.
Launch of the BRZD "Molodets" rocket
The first President of the USSR M. Gorbachev traveled to Baikonur, visited YuMZ and the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, repeatedly communicated with our leading specialists in the defense complex and generals, but nevertheless, succumbed to the temptation to gain a very dubious worldwide reputation as a peacemaker, showing criminal gullibility , having received verbal guarantees from our Western “partners” about the non-expansion of NATO to the East and the non-aligned status of a united Germany, “waved away” START-1, worse than that, ensured the implementation of expanded unilateral obligations, causing colossal damage to the defense capability of our country, devaluing the results of the hard work of entire generations of our defense complex, the entire Soviet people.
The first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, in turn, having waved START-2, contributed to the further collapse of the country’s defense capability and at one time agreed to the point that he announced the removal of warheads from combat missiles, instead of announcing a change in the flight mission, that missiles will no longer be aimed at America.
These were the kind of specialists who were in the rank of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the late USSR and Russia, who did not consider it possible to consult with their chief designers and take into account their opinion and the opinion of our military commanders.
The first leaders of our state listened to the opinion of Vladimir Fedorovich - the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee L.I., Brezhnev, President of Russia V. Putin (Photo from the newspaper "Gudok" 2000). For the sake of fairness, it is worth noting that this was not always the case; this did not apply to the President of the USSR M. Gorbachev and the first President of Russia B. Yeltsin.
It is significant that the tight-fisted American Congress immediately allocated money for the destruction of former Soviet missile silos, but did not give a single cent for the construction of housing for the officers who operated these silos: “The US Congress does not have the ability to allocate money to improve the living conditions of officers of another country.” But before destroying, for example, the missile silos of the 43rd Missile Army in Ukraine, the United States spoke about its readiness to help the officers and warrant officers of the Strategic Missile Forces dismissed en masse in arranging housing. The leadership of Ukraine at that time, instead of concluding an agreement with the United States that would have specified points of compensation for the country for the destruction of missile silos, obligatory for both parties, took the United States at its word. You can wait forever for money under agreements of this kind...
After retiring, Utkin received US Brigadier General astronaut Thomas Stafford at his home at his request. Why shouldn’t he, Utkin, accept the famous American astronaut? He accepted, and together they made dumplings, the production of which Stafford mastered well. And the dumplings go with good Russian vodka. Stafford raised the first toast to General Designer Utkin, who “... made a rocket that the Americans are still afraid of.” Even in this friendly toast, respect for a strong opponent is clearly visible. The United States does not talk to the weak at all, except from a position of strength through diktat and threats. There are any number of examples, especially in our time.
Thomas Stafford: “...Academician Utkin was a witness and catalyst of advanced changes that took place during the 76 years of his life. He personally saw the emergence and development of numerous great inventions: liquid fuel rockets, the first artificial Earth satellite and personal computers. He was truly the driving force behind these changes, as it was his launch vehicle design that formed the basis for the development of the Russian Federation's defense and aerospace technologies used today... During our very first meeting, I was amazed by the brilliant, sharp mind of a great engineer who became an unrivaled expert in the development of rocket and space technology. It is difficult to overestimate the insight of his thoughts and the recommendations that he shared during our joint work within the Mir-Shuttle program. Thanks to his efforts, it was possible to expand cooperation within the framework of the joint program and involve nations around the world in the construction of the International Space Station."
Daniel Goldin: “As director of the Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Vladimir Fedorovich was a staunch supporter of the creation of the International Space Station. His dedication to our cooperation in space paved the way for our future. We will greatly miss his leadership and wisdom. Vladimir Fedorovich was an integral factor in the success of our deepening cooperation in space. His legacy will live on in the future achievements of space explorers around the world."
Academician V.F. Utkin and astronaut Thomas Staffort at the monument to K.E. Tsiolkovsky in the village of Izhevsk
Under the leadership of V.F. Utkin, a large galaxy of talented engineers and designers, managers of enterprises and organizations grew up. He always relied on their creativity and outstanding organizational skills. This was a team capable of creating the most complex and incredible projects. She is now successfully working in academic institutes, design bureaus, research institutes and at enterprises in the Russian space industry.
While creating the most formidable and destructive modern weapons, V.F. Utkin, on the other hand, felt a huge responsibility to the world and his compatriots. His philosophy as a designer and citizen was completely subordinated to the duty and moral choice of a scientist. And perhaps that is why the nuclear missile disaster did not occur, and the states sat down at the negotiating table on the reduction of formidable weapons, that there were such patriotic scientists as Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin.
Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin’s heart stopped beating on February 15, 2000. Hero of Socialist Labor Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin was buried twice at the Troekurovsky cemetery in the capital.
In 2003, a memorial plaque in memory of the great rocket scientist was unveiled on the facade of the main building of TsNIIMash. An organizing committee has been created that annually awards gold and silver medals named after Academician Utkin.
V.F. Utkin did so much for the country that even a few lives would not have been enough for anyone else. About him, twice Hero of Socialist Labor, academician and winner of numerous awards, young people in Russia, and even more so in Maidan Ukraine, know very little or nothing at all, not counting the guys from the town of Kasimov, which is in the Ryazan region - the native land of the great K. E. Tsiolkovsky, the great Russian poet Sergei Yesenin and the outstanding designers of rocket technology of our Fatherland, patriots of the Russian land, the Utkin brothers...
Monument to V.F. Utkin
In the city of Ryazan
Utkin Vladimir Fedorovich Vladimir Fedorovich was born in the town of Pustobor, Kasimovsky district, on October 17, 1923. In 1941, he graduated with honors from secondary school No. 2 in Kasimov and became a cadet at the Ulyanovsk School of Communications. During the Great Patriotic War, Vladimir Fedorovich served as a senior mechanic at a military telegraph station in the 278th Fighter Aviation Division and reached Berlin. After the war, he graduated from the Faculty of Jet Weapons of the Leningrad Military Mechanical Institute. |
Our fellow countryman, Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin, is, first of all, the chief designer of combat strategic missile systems, which have become an alternative for Russia against any nuclear missile threat. This is what allowed humanity to avoid a suicidal third nuclear world war.
ROCKET SS-24
From 1970 to 1990, V.F. Utkin headed the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, first as chief and then general designer. During this time, four strategic missile systems were developed and put into service, and several launch vehicles were created. Among the latest developments are the highly efficient, environmentally friendly Zenit launch vehicle; SS-24 solid propellant missile; the unparalleled highly effective strategic missile SS-18.
In the field of space research, various satellites for defense and scientific purposes have been implemented. In total, more than three hundred spacecraft of the Cosmos family developed by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau were launched into orbit, constituting a significant part of the total number of satellites in this series.
The characteristic principle of V.F. Utkin’s work is the use of defense scientific and technical developments in the interests of science and the national economy. Thus, the Kosmos-1500 satellite was used to remove convoys of ships covered in ice in the East Siberian Sea. Kosmos-1500 also became the founder of the well-known Ocean series of satellites, which provide significant improvements in the safety and efficiency of navigation.
Since 1990, V.F. Utkin has been the director of the Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency (Rosaviakosmos). With the direct participation of Vladimir Fedorovich, the Federal Space Program of Russia was developed. Under his leadership, as the general designer, scientific and technical “support” is provided for key problems related to the International Space Station (ISS).
The merits and experience of V.F. Utkin, an authority in international scientific circles, largely determined his appointment as co-chairman of a joint expert commission with NASA - the “Utkin-Stafford Commission”, which exercises mutual control over problematic issues of creating the ISS.