The shipbuilding minister who built the Soviet Navy's strategic parity
On 4 December 1974, a 'closed' decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet awarded him the title Hero of Socialist Labour. That even the state's highest civilian honour was classified speaks to the secrecy enveloping the strategic submarine programme he directed.
Igor Belousov was a shipbuilding engineer and statesman who rose from the shop floor of the Baltic Shipyard to become the Soviet Union's Minister of the Shipbuilding Industry. As the official responsible for the design and construction of the Soviet Navy's strategic missile submarine force during the 1970s, he directed Project 667B/BD/BDR submarines and the Typhoon-class strategic system, built explicitly as the counterweight to the American Trident, making a decisive contribution to US–Soviet maritime strategic parity. From 1988 he served as Deputy Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers and Chairman of the State Military-Industrial Commission (VPK), coordinating the entire defence sector during the perestroika conversion years.
Career Timeline
- 1952–1963Baltic Shipyard: foreman, Komsomol secretary, assembly-welding shop chief, head of production department
- 1963–1967Chief Engineer, Baltic Shipyard
- 1967–1969Chief Engineer, Admiralty Shipyard
- 1969–1976Deputy Minister of Shipbuilding Industry of the USSR
- 1976–1984First Deputy Minister of Shipbuilding Industry of the USSR
- 1984–1988Minister of Shipbuilding Industry of the USSR
- 1988–1990Deputy Chairman, USSR Council of Ministers — Chairman, State Military-Industrial Commission (VPK)
- 2000–2005Chief Adviser, Rosoboronexport