He went to study far away from his parents and chose Samara because there was the Samara State Aerospace University (now Samara University), and he had been crazy about airplanes since his childhood. He is one of those who sets a goal and sooner or later achieves it. Having received a degree in Aircraft and Helicopter Engineering, he specialized in calculating the strength of structures. While still a student, he took part in the design of special aircraft at Beriev Taganrog Aviation Scientific and Technical Complex, where he went to work in 2002 after receiving his diploma. Then he received an invitation to the Airbus Engineering Center in Russia (IKAR), where he was involved in a joint project of UAC/Irkut and EADS/Airbus to convert A320/321 aircraft as a software manager. From 2011 to the summer of 2017, he worked first as a deputy, then as the CEO of the RTI concern, a developer and manufacturer of high-tech products and infrastructure solutions in the field of national defense. Today, he heads the design and technical complex for the creation of a medium military transport aircraft at the Ilyushin Aviation Complex.
First choice
‒ Who did you dream of becoming?
‒ A reconnaissance officer.
‒ Considering that the RTI concern, where you were employed for more than 6 years, works for the defense industry, does it mean that your dream came true?
‒ 90 percent. RTI is engaged in the creation of air and space attack warning systems. This is reconnaissance.
‒ Why did you decide to study at Samara Aerospace University?
‒ My choice was simple: between the Samara Aerospace University and the Ufa Aviation University. Ufa University specialized more in engines. While in Samara, the main focus was on aircraft construction. I wanted to build aircraft. I finished school in Bashkiria and went to Samara. I wanted more independence. After a specialized physics and mathematics class, the first two years were like a vacation for me. The introduction to the specialty was, of course, interesting, and because we had already studied higher mathematics in the 11th grade, so it was easy, and it was possible to focus on aircraft construction. Which is what I did. My supervisor was Dmitry Mikhailovich Kozlov, an associate professor of the Department of Aircraft Construction and Design. By the way, I attended his pre-defense of bachelors this summer. It was interesting to see how fourth-year students discuss methods of fixing the final element of the structure, approaches to calculations. At that time, for us, this was high-tech ‒ everything was just beginning. Now, 15 years later, this is the norm for them. Calculation capabilities have increased dramatically. A phone has the power of 5 computers. It used to take 5–6 hours to calculate one aircraft, and now it takes 3–4 minutes.
‒ You gave a presentation at the Second Russian Symposium on Nanosatellites with International Participation “RusNanoSat-2017”, which was held in June at Samara University and was dedicated to promising space research in this area. At that time, you were still working at RTI. Does this concern have any joint programs with universities?
‒ RTI has 14 basic departments, with which we constantly interact through the Ministry of Education and Science in developing technical solutions and models. Now the universities have a fairly good technical base, and this work is interesting to both parties. In addition, this cooperation gives a good result in terms of creating human resources. The departments prepare personnel for RTI. Starting from the 3rd–4th year, radio engineers take part in scientific conferences of the concern, undergo practical training and then enter the perimeter of RTI. This reminds me of my story, when I got to Beriev Taganrog Aviation Scientific and Technical Complex for an internship, and then received a job offer.
‒ What was your report about at the symposium?
‒ When creating protection systems, RTI deals with the space segment. Within it, the company is interested in additional information, both in the optical-electronic, radar range, and the current state of the ionosphere, on which the radar signal depends. The RTI Aerospace Research and Development Center has developments, and I gave a report on one of them ‒ a ground control point for aggregating information, processing it and delivering it to the end user.
‒ You started with airplanes, and at RTI you worked on nanosatellites. Was this an evolutionary transition?
‒ In general, it was. I started as a strength engineer. Then I received a job offer at the Airbus engineering center in Russia. I graduated from the Airbus Business Academy in France and became a program manager for aircraft development. First, the 30th cargo, then the 320th ‒ converting the passenger version into a cargo version. As a person with experience in research and development administration, I was invited to RTI in 2011, and I became Deputy General Director for Research and Development. There are specifics there. Airborne carriers, ground-based carriers, on a space platform. A nanosatellite is a grain in the overall system.
Well, now I have returned to aircraft again – I was invited to work by one of the leaders of Russian aircraft manufacturing – the Ilyushin Aviation Complex. Here I will work on a project to create a medium tactical military transport aircraft for Russian and foreign customers, which will replace the aging An-12. When creating the new aircraft, the technical solutions of the Il-76 and Il-112 will be used to the maximum extent.
‒ And what knowledge did you acquire at the Airbus Business Academy?
‒ They didn’t teach management of large aviation projects in Samara Aerospace University back then, but there was a need for knowledge related to development management, production, logistics, sales, pre-sale preparation, economics, and work with special customers. And I got it in Toulouse.
On aircraft manufacturing and the market trends
‒ In 2002, when you graduated from SSAU, the Russian aircraft manufacturing industry was going through a difficult time, to put it mildly. The specialty you chose didn’t promise mountains of gold at that time. What allowed you to stay in the profession?
‒ I believe that if a person sets a goal, he or she should achieve it. Aircraft manufacturing doesn’t depend on the market trends. Aircraft have always been built and will always be built.
‒ Did you have a chance to participate in any programs or projects while studying at SSAU?
‒ We were developing the BE-104 amphibious aircraft: we tested the parameters of the wing and fuselage articulation. Its peculiarity is that the wing lands completely on the water, as if sticking to it, which required calculations. This machine for 4–6 passengers has gone through several modifications. It feels confident where there are no aerodromes. The plane still flies, it is mass-produced in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. There were also other projects. We extended the estimated service life of a number of aircraft. We conducted an analysis of residual strength, determined the restrictive parameters for inspections.
‒ How did the education you received help you to achieve success?
‒ The university influenced me very much. Let's start with the fact that it taught me to be independent. I was 17 when I moved away from my parents. It was not because things were bad at home. I was into rock climbing, I was in the top ten in Bashkortostan, and I was usually not at home on weekends, especially in summer, when there were expeditions, hikes, and so on. In addition to beautiful girls, and in Samara the girls are really beautiful, my wife is from here, she lived in Zhigulevsk, and we met in Samara, this is also a huge number of various opportunities. During the holidays, when the session was passed, I could earn extra money with industrial mountaineering – we cleaned windows. They paid well, enough to live on. The atmosphere at the university was amazing with established connections both in the student environment, horizontally, and vertically. We were friends with the head of the “Polet” camp, he also gave us work from time to time – to tidy up the territory, for example. When any problems arose, we knew that we would be helped, and we would help.
‒ Which lecturers influenced you?
‒ Dmitry Mikhailovich Kozlov, my scientific supervisor, who taught me from the third year, had a great influence on me. Gennady Alexeevich Reznichenko helped in interaction with the Beriev TANKT. Yuri Leonidovich Tarasov, head of the strength department, instilled a love for understanding how it works. We were learning to create tools, not systems. We were taught to understand how it works. The combination of requirements for systemicity, fatigue, strength allows you to line up an understanding of this or that object. And it does not matter whether it is an airplane, a car or a beautiful girl.
How to become number one
‒ Samara Aerospace University has always differed from other universities in the minds of Samara residents by a certain high standard. For many, it became the start that allowed them to achieve serious success in the profession...
‒ I think it is written in the DNA of the University. When you come to Samara Aerospace University, you understand that being in this team, you already become number one. You already have the winner's coat of arms, it does not matter to you what fight to get into, you understand that you will win it. The only competitor is MAI, since the aviation institute was evacuated from Moscow in 1942. This is an atmosphere in which there is science and sloppiness in the good sense of the word: open-mindedness, courage, audacity. This is a place to gain invaluable life experience. When I came to Samara Aerospace University, I knew physics so well that I disputed with the lecturer and claimed that I had already passed this level and was ready to pass it without attending the lectures. Self-confidence cost me dearly. Upon the second year, having failed the exam, I had to take a gap year. I worked, the practice did me good. I came back – the same lecturer again, I told her again that I would pass the exam without attending the lectures. It ended up that I had to take physics exams in the fifth year with the exam commission. Why did I recall this story? It’s because she was right – you need to be disciplined. The institute helps to understand yourself through mistakes and not be afraid of making mistakes.
Education as a way of positioning
‒ Who would you advise to go to university, and who – not?
‒ An engineer is a profession in demand. If a person is interested in seeing how his/her brainchild goes into the sky in three to five years, it is worth it. This is a matter of internal attitude. What a person wants. Education is a way to position yourself in society. Who are you – a technocrat, a bureaucrat, an economist? If you are interested in mechanisms, their structure – I would advise you to go.
‒ If you had to choose a specialization today, what would you choose?
– The same. However, I would devote more time to some social disciplines. We were the first group to be taught cultural studies. It was interesting, unusual, new and very useful. I would have studied economics more deeply from the point of view of the physics of the process.
‒ What new areas would you recommend to introduce into the curriculum?
‒ Firstly, sensorics. Now sensors allow us to combine the state of all aircraft instruments into a single system. This saves time on pre-flight preparation of the machine, which reduces the cost of a flight hour. Detailed knowledge of the systems makes it possible to operate the aircraft according to its condition, and not according to regulations. Radio technicians now have great prospects. Photonics should be studied in more detail. The use of photons in radar allowed us to put objects on combat duty in 1–1.5 years instead of 5–7 years. The personnel for servicing tracking systems has been reduced by an order of magnitude.
‒ Which specialties, in your opinion, are the most promising for current enrollees?
‒ I think, first of all, an engineer. This is a mindset, a perspective. Then, innovators, startuppers, as they are also called, people who have an idea of engineering capabilities, technologies and create new products. We often work to order. There are not many people who are able to come up with something new, but they are needed.
‒ What would you wish to your University on its 75th anniversary?
‒ The key is to maintain an atmosphere of community: to be able to lend a shoulder in time, to aim for a result without fear of making a mistake. Not to be afraid of risk, but to remember that the risk must be conscious.
Source: volga.news
