Military-Industrial Commission (VPK)

군수공업위원회

A permanent special body under the USSR Council of Ministers, established in 1957 and operating until 1991, that coordinated all defense-industry ministries and research institutions and oversaw the development and production planning of weapons and military equipment: the nerve center of the Soviet military-industrial complex. Chaired by a deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers, its decisions were binding on all defense-industry entities regardless of departmental subordination. Together with the Defense Industry Department of the CPSU Central Committee, it formed the dual party-state control structure of the Soviet military-industrial complex, serving as the operational engine that resolved inter-ministerial bottlenecks in nuclear, missile, and space programs during the drive for strategic parity with the United States.