Translated material
Reward for "Vampire"
The winners of the national award “Golden Idea” have been announced
The Golden Idea Award is an annual award, established six years ago by the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FS MTC) - for merits and achievements in the field of military-technical cooperation with foreign countries. It was then that it became clear that the arms trade had been revived and would continue to grow. And so it happened. Today, the Russian portfolio of foreign military orders has exceeded $25 billion.Memorable prizes and diplomas of the FS MTC are traditionally awarded at the end of the current year based on the results of the previous year. That is, this time the achievements of the defense industry of 2005 were recorded. Leading Russian enterprises are noted - developers and manufacturers of military products that are directly related to the export of weapons and military equipment. Of the 70 declared participants, 16 became winners in six categories.
The creators of the Yak-130 training aircraft (Yakovlev Experimental Design Bureau) and the RPG-29N hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher, better known by the code “Vampire” (state research and production enterprise “Basalt”), were awarded for the development of export-oriented products. The general director of Basalt, Vladimir Korenkov, was among the recipients, but he did not go up to the stage in the Manege where the award ceremony took place. This summer, Mr. Korenkov was accused of “abuse of power.” He was accused of transferring 2.3 million rubles to a third-party organization. for work on the construction of the observation platform and the institute training ground, which were allegedly not carried out. The general director was placed in a psychiatric hospital, an examination was ordered, and then released. Further, the trace of the head of one of the largest defense enterprises in Russia was lost. However, those gathered for the celebration could watch Vladimir Vladimirovich at the buffet table. He looked worse than usual and said that the criminal case had not yet been closed.
Third in this category were the teams of the Polet research and production enterprise (Nizhny Novgorod) and the Sukhoi Design Bureau for ground-based radio communication systems, command and information exchange of data. As manufacturers of military products, the Zvezdochka enterprise in Severodvinsk was noted for the modernization of the submarine for India, the Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau in Kolomna for the Strelets short-range air defense systems for Syria, and the Izhevsk Arms Plant for Kalashnikov assault rifles of the so-called “hundredth series” " -- AK-101. The All-Russian Research Institute "Signal" was awarded as the best co-executing enterprise.
For the second time this year, the press is being recognized “for its contribution to the promotion of military-technical cooperation and information support for the export of military products.” Following the magazine "Military Parade", this year the winner was the newspaper "Military-Industrial Courier". The editor-in-chief and founder of the publication, Igor Korotchenko, who in just over three years transformed the newspaper into a very informed analytical publication, was recognized by the National Biographical Institute as Person of the Year 2005.
Five engineers and designers of the Russian defense industry from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Taganrog and Novosibirsk were awarded the “Golden Idea” in the “Young Talents” nomination. All of them are under 30 years old, but their developments have already been implemented into hardware. We are talking about components and assemblies of aircraft engines, including those with deflectable thrust vectors, submarines, and electronic devices.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sergei Ivanov presented memorable prizes and diplomas of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, although in previous years this was done by the head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, Mikhail Dmitriev. There may be several reasons for this: either things are so good in the defense industry that they decided to reward the laureates at a higher level, or Sergei Borisovich continues to participate in the advertising campaign for the title of successor to the president. However, most likely, the fact is that the status of the Golden Idea Award has been increased from this year. If previously it was established by the FS MTC, now the organizing committee also includes a representative of the Military-Industrial Commission under the Russian government. This, apparently, is the reason for the appearance of the head of the commission, Sergei Ivanov, at the ceremony.
Based on the nature and subject matter of the works of the Golden Idea laureates, one can safely judge the breakthrough trends in the Russian military-industrial complex. With one caveat: there are “golden ideas” in sensitive, strategic areas, but there the laureates are awarded quietly and without fanfare - by secret presidential decrees, and with very vague wording.