Founded and led Soviet radio-electronics for 20 years, building the electronic backbone of spaceflight and ABM
On 17 June 1961, by an unpublished decree, he was awarded Hero of Socialist Labor — for the electronic systems that made Gagarin's flight possible.
He led the Soviet radio-electronics industry for 20 years, from 1954 until his death, remaining at its head through three ministry reorganizations. Starting as an electrician in Rostov-on-Don and graduating from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute by night school, he rose through shipbuilding research institutes developing naval radar and guided weaponry, twice winning the Stalin Prize. Appointed the first Minister of the Radio-Technical Industry in 1954, he built the electronic base for crewed spaceflight and the Moscow A-35, the world's first operational ABM system. Awarded Hero of Socialist Labor by closed decree in 1961 for the electronics behind Gagarin's flight, he was one of the few to receive seven Orders of Lenin.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1924–1929Electrician in Rostov-on-Don; graduated Rostov Industrial Technicum evening division
- 1929–1933Master → shop chief → senior engineer, Moskabel factory, Moscow
- 1934Graduated Moscow Power Engineering Institute (MEI) evening division
- 1935–1942NII-10, People's Commissariat of Shipbuilding: design engineer → chief designer → chief engineer
- 1942–1949Director of NII-10 (later NII-100 'Altair'), shipbuilding industry
- 1949–1951Head, Main Admin. of Reactive Armament, Ministry of Shipbuilding
- 1951–1954Deputy Head, Third Main Admin., Council of Ministers (radar and SAM)
- 1954–1957Minister of the Radio-Technical Industry of the USSR
- 1957–1963Chairman, State Cttee for Radio-Electronics, Council of Ministers — Minister
- 1963–1965Chairman, State Cttee for Radio-Electronics — Minister of the USSR
- 1965–1974Minister of the Radio Industry of the USSR (died in office)
Related historical events
State direction of the radio-electronics industry
Kalmykov began working in 1935 at a research institute under the People's Commissariat for the Shipbuilding Industry, rising from design engineer to chief designer and chief engineer before becoming its director in 1942. The institute's work included wartime radar development, and in 1943 he joined the State Defense Committee's Council on Radar. In 1949 he became head of the Main Directorate for Rocket Armaments in the shipbuilding ministry; from 1951 he held a post in the USSR Council of Ministers apparatus overseeing defense industries.
After becoming Minister of the Radio-Technical Industry in 1954, Kalmykov continued directing the state radio-electronics sector through successive institutional reorganizations. In 1957 he became chairman of the Council of Ministers' State Committee for Radio-Electronics; in 1963, chairman of the USSR State Committee for Radio-Electronics and a USSR minister; and in 1965, Minister of the Radio Industry. This succession of offices documents his administrative responsibility for the sector, but does not establish that every technical achievement was his personal accomplishment. In 1961 he received the title Hero of Socialist Labor for contributions to preparing Gagarin's spaceflight; the decree conferring it was not published.