Boris Obnosov, General Director of the Tactical Missile Armament Corporation, answered the questions of HBO on the eve of his 70th birthdayIn a special military operation in Ukraine, Russian aircraft guided weapons have shown high combat effectiveness, which we largely owe to their manufacturer, the Tactical Missile Armament Corporation.
Its head, Boris Viktorovich Obnosov, is a well–known scientist, organizer of the creation and production of high-precision weapons, Doctor of Technical Sciences, professor. Hero of the Russian Federation, Knight of the Order of Friendship, Orders of Merit for the Fatherland, III and IV degrees. Laureate of the State Prize in the field of science and technology, the State Prize named after Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov, two prizes of the Government of the Russian Federation in the field of science and technology. Member of the NTS Military-Industrial Commission under the President of the Russian Federation. He has been the permanent General Director of KTRV JSC for more than 20 years. Journalist Oleg Falichev talked with Boris Obnosov about topical issues.
– Boris Viktorovich, a lot has been said in the media about you as the head of the Tactical Missile Armament Corporation, involved in the creation of the latest models of high-precision weapons. But behind all this, a person and his character are not always visible. Therefore, today, on the eve of your anniversary, I would like to talk not so much about the "hardware", but about your life path, the formation of you as a person. How did you manage to preserve the best human qualities in yourself in the era of oligarchic capitalism?– I was born in the Soviet Union, and the words that may sound too lofty today – pride for our country, our victories in science, the first human space flight in history – were not empty words for me and my generation.
We, the boys of the 60s, really had something to be proud of, from whom to take an example.
When one day it was announced from the high tribunes that a new historical community had been created in the USSR – the "Soviet people", we did not fully realize what it was, but as I grew older, I began to understand: but that's how it was. We have never even thought about which of us is at school or in the yard of what nationality. There were no ethnic conflicts in the country. On the contrary, a society of social justice, equality of representatives of all nations and nationalities, who lived together in a huge country and saved it from the brown plague, putting 27 million lives on the altar of the Fatherland, was born and strengthened. Then, I believe, the bonds were laid in me, figuratively speaking, which propaganda failed to devalue during the period of perestroika and in the dashing 90s.
– Apparently, your parents also had a hand in this, as they say? A person's pedigree is an important component.– I chose the path to the profession on my own, but you are right: it is in the family that moral qualities are laid in the child.
Everything affects: everyday life, lifestyle...
My father's parents moved to Moscow from the village of Havertovo in the Ryazan region at the beginning of the century. The village was under 1.5 thousand people, half of whom bore the surname Obnosov, and half – Volkov. Mom hails from Kineshma, was a nurse in the war. With the exception of the younger ones, everyone in the family (and the families were large) participated in the Great Patriotic War. And when my father was wounded in 1944, my mother nursed him, and they met in the hospital.
We lived in Moscow with our parents and older brother in the Oktyabrsky Field area in a small room, blocked by a closet. Moreover, my brother and I slept on the same bed. There were about 20 more apartments on the floor with a shared kitchen at the end of the corridor. Families have always helped each other, helped out with what they could. We boys competed to see who could lift the most bound irons or race faster on a tricycle along the common corridor. Everyone lived poorly, but, believe me, in their own happy way.
Then my father was transferred from place to place more than once for work, and we had to travel with him to cities and towns: Kazan, Ulyanovsk, Kostroma... I still remember with great gratitude the teachers of Ulyanovsk Secondary School No. 1 named after V.I. Lenin, which I graduated from in 1970. The windows were lit there until late in the evening – various clubs and sports sections were working. It was considered a great honor to study for a day at Ilyich's desk. Octobrists, pioneers, Komsomol members… These were well-thought-out institutions for the upbringing and education of children and adolescents. In the homes and palaces of the pioneers, all the clubs were free.
Therefore, I am very grateful to the country that raised me and the ideological foundation on which my whole life was subsequently built. I will never forget how on April 12, 1961, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Moscow in a single rush, chanting the name of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who made the world's first flight into outer space. It was an all-consuming holiday, a feeling of universal pride for our people and our great power. Literally every day something great happened: new plants and factories, thermal power plants and hydroelectric power plants, railways and highways were put into operation, virgin land was mastered, new planes were built and lifted into the air... It is not surprising that at first I dreamed of becoming a pilot, but my eyesight failed. Parents did not impose anything, but throughout their lives they set an example of a conscientious attitude to work.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu hears Boris Obnosov's information about a promising product. – How did you become an engineer?
– Aviation, the romance of flying have sunk into the soul forever.
Therefore, he entered the Moscow Aviation Institute. I remember how at first I was very afraid not to be expelled – it was strict with passing exams. Therefore, I did not get out of the library – as they say, "gnawed the granite of science." There was practically no free time left. We considered it an honor to earn an increased scholarship myself, to work part–time at the department, in the summer in the construction team, and in the fall - on potatoes.
He graduated from the university with "excellent", was a Lenin scholar. Then he entered full-time graduate school, defended his PhD in due time. A year later, he went to the engineering stream of the Lomonosov Moscow State University mehmat and plowed for three years, as they say. He received a diploma in mathematics.
I met my future wife at the Moscow Institute of Electronic Engineering, where I taught undergraduates.
We were not burdened with hoarding and greed, other vices of our time. Then, working abroad, it was bitter for me to look at some of our employees, who almost with tears in their eyes returned to their homeland, delaying this moment in every possible way. My wife and I missed our family and friends, counting the days until the end of a long business trip.
In general, it so happened that I often had to find myself at the turning point of events, sharp turns and turns of life. And I have been to hot spots more than once, and participated in the tests of weapons on the "front". However, the tempering received in his youth always helped to overcome adversity.
– But maybe there is something that I would like to fix or live over again?– I, like probably millions of our fellow citizens, was affected by the demagoguery of the perestroika period that we went through.
After a while, it became clear that the pseudo-democracy that has come does not improve our lives in any way. Therefore, I have an extremely negative attitude to the period that plunged us into decline, chaos and ended with a great geopolitical catastrophe – the collapse of the country. Reread at least one article by Mikhail Gorbachev today, and you will find nothing in it except empty talk. It was an extremely difficult period and, thank God, there were forces that corrected this roll.
Unfortunately, what happened in our country in the dashing 90s, you will not live again. But we simply have to learn lessons from this.
– When you first received an offer to head the Tactical Missile Armament Corporation, as far as we know, at first you accepted it without much enthusiasm?– I won't say that I immediately agreed without any hesitation.
There were big internal doubts – whether I could cope. And my work as the head of the Department of Defense Technologies and Space at Rosoboronexport was extremely interesting and creative.
The model range of the main products of the corporation. Photo provided by KTRV In addition, the financial condition of the parent company and its "daughters" was far from brilliant, not to mention the elementary order in the workshops and territories.
Therefore, we had to start literally with the clearing of construction and other debris. At the main enterprise in Korolev, we took out several tons of scrap metal every day, which was lying around everywhere. I remember how all this was cleaned up before my eyes, how they began to reconstruct the main building, the laboratory and design building, then they built a dining room, housing for employees… And all this paid off handsomely, the outflow of personnel stopped, new products were developed and put into mass production.
– A person cannot live only by work and at work. Are you happy in your marriage, have your children followed in your footsteps?– Of course, it's impossible to live 40 years next to a person you don't like.
So, of course, I am happily married, I love my wife and I am happy with my children. Although in our family, as in any other, everything happened. In children, I want to see the continuers of my business. But life is much more multifaceted and more complex than our ideas about it. Just like me at the time, the children went the other way, and it's their choice. The son became a programmer, he has three children. My daughter still has one son, after university she did a lot of insurance, organizing various charity events and is now in a creative search. When we all get together, which happens rarely, the grandchildren do not let us get bored.
– No matter how happily a person's life develops, there are very difficult, difficult moments when everything falls out of hand and, it seems, the world is collapsing. At such moments, you don't know where to look for strength, who to turn to for help. Some turn to the Almighty, others close themselves in, harden their souls. And what do you do?– There is a considerable amount of truth in this philosophical question.
But each of us answers it in his own way.
When a ship or plane is in distress, everyone, apparently, mentally turns to the Almighty for help, because there is no one else. After all, the elements, even in our atomic age, are always stronger than man. In the trenches on the front line, they say, there are no atheists either. In difficult life situations, I sometimes mentally turn to the higher mind. Sometimes I go to the temple, which is located next to our parent company, to listen to the wonderful voices of the singers. It gives spiritual strength, cleanses the soul and head.
The family and the team help in such moments. And perseverance in solving problems. You should never give in to despair, give up. Only the walking one will master the road. The developer of high-precision weapons should rely primarily on like-minded people, on the arguments of engineers and designers, statistics and analysis. There is no other way. Moreover, the tests do not always go like clockwork. Everything is given with sweat and blood, because you cannot calculate with absolute accuracy how the weapon will behave in a real combat situation, at various operating modes in difficult weather and climatic conditions.
– Deputy Commander of the Joint Group of Troops in the zone of special military operation in Ukraine, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Army General Sergei Surovikin said that the latest high-precision weapons have proven themselves well. We are also talking about the products of your corporation. And how do you evaluate the results yourself?– I am proud to know Sergey Vladimirovich.
We see each other periodically in the south of our country. He is a highly professional person who knows how to defend his opinion, including in front of high management, which sometimes requires great courage. Surovikin is a man with good logic, graduated, as far as I remember, from a mathematical school. I was lucky enough to visit Syria with him several times, where our products were tested.
I remember how one of them at the first stage did not fully confirm the inherent characteristics, which, of course, did not please me. Then Sergey Vladimirovich came up to me and said: "Boris Viktorovich, why are you upset? We changed the mission during the flight, destroyed enemy communications on the march, everything is going according to plan...". This example shows that Sergey Vladimirovich has never tried to protect himself at the expense of others, to abandon our difficulties and problems. I understood perfectly: defeats and victories are our common cause.
– How have Western sanctions and the fighting in Ukraine changed your life and work of the corporation?– A lot has changed.
ITS, like any war, changes the whole way of life of a person. We are now constantly actively searching for innovative solutions, all design bureaus are working extremely hard. Although quite recently, in 2021, we were told that the peak of the state defense order has been passed and we need to think about the production of civilian products. Strict deadlines were set – in 2025, at least 30% of such goods should be produced. By the way, no one has removed this task yet either.
But we all understand that our eyes are changing the picture of the world. When you are essentially fighting against the whole of NATO and their allies, more weapons are needed. The most perfect, intellectual, which surpasses the NATO samples – you can't beat off with bayonets and shovels.
The rhythm of our life itself has changed, people's attitudes to business. The enterprises now have a multi-shift work schedule, which required the search for new people, up to the invitation of veterans, the organization of additional training of employees. The same micro-fitter must be trained in all operations for four to six months.
The search for new directions for import substitution is underway, additional tests with new components are underway.
– Do you feel behind your back the breath of some American engineer or designer who is working on creating an even more advanced hypersonic weapon?– Why only American?
The Chinese are already working on this, who recently, apparently, successfully tested one of the products. The United States has also never stopped such research. Therefore, I have always said and say: if we stop at the results achieved, we will inevitably be overtaken, or even overtaken. In this work, we need consistency and continuity.
In the defense industry, in essence, we need to become completely independent, forget about the popular thesis of the 1990s - noughties: we will buy everything for oil. The country's defense industry is a matter of national security. Therefore, it is necessary to engage in the revival of our machine-tool construction, mechanical engineering, electronics, secondary technical education.
– Under your leadership, the corporation has passed a difficult path of formation and development, is an example of a dynamically developing company that makes a serious contribution to ensuring the country's defense capability. By Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 16 of January 20, 2022, she was awarded the honorary badge of the Russian Federation "For Success in Work". Is it possible to say that the formation of KTRV and involvement in the creation of hypersonic weapons are your main achievements in life?– Of course, this is the most important stage.
But the main result of the corporation's 20-year activity is that during this period more than 20 weapons systems were created and their state tests were completed. Any product, regardless of its characteristics, is the result of the large–scale work of our team of many thousands. So, I dare say, my work, because I always associate myself with my colleagues in the shop, comrades and friends, the whole team of our corporation.
But hypersonic weapons are not a panacea or a wunderwaffe. Hypersound alone won't win the war. No less important, for example, are coastal missile systems, underwater weapons, and other weapons systems created by us. It is necessary to keep in mind the whole complex of high–precision weapons of destruction, the entire line of products that our enterprises produce and that can be seen at exhibitions - MAKS, Army and others.
– In your 70s, you look athletic and quite young. In your personal arsenal – life experience, wisdom of the past years, energy and willingness to continue to lead the ship called "KTRV" through the stormy ocean of our difficult time. What would you like to wish yourself and your colleagues at this hour?– The sages say that a person can be happy only when he lives for others – his relatives and relatives, his country, his people.
But the understanding of this comes, as a rule, over the years. I am sincerely glad that all these years I have served my country, my Fatherland – Russia.
I wish this to my colleagues, to the entire team of the Tactical Missile Armament Corporation that is dear to me.
Oleg Falichev