General Designer Yuri Solomonov is known as one of the most experienced and brightest specialists in his field. Today he works at the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering.
Early years
Future engineer Yuri Solomonov was born in Moscow on November 3, 1945. He received his higher education at the Moscow Aviation Institute. After that, military service began as a lieutenant of the Strategic Missile Forces.
In 1971, Yuri Solomonov went to work at the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering. The young specialist was a promising engineer. The Institute belonged to the Ministry of Defense of the USSR. Within the walls of this institution, the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles and the complexes necessary for their operation took place.
MIT career
Thanks to his talents and diligence, Yuri Solomonov confidently moved up the career ladder. He has come a long way from an ordinary engineer to the chief designer of an enterprise. In 1997, the specialist headed the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering (MIT). In the 90s, Solomonov did a lot to ensure that Russia's nuclear shield was preserved, even despite the economic and politic alturmoil.
Under the guidance of the doctor of sciences, his subordinates began to receive a large number of orders from various law enforcement agencies. Leading developers of missiles intended for ground units worked at MIT. The Navy instructed the enterprise to create anti-submarine complexes "Medvedka", "Rain" and "Whirlwind". Solomonov led such complex projects as Topol and Pioneer. These complexes went to the Strategic Missile Forces.
MIT developed and transformed thanks to the activities of its chief designer, who was Yuri Solomonov. The biography of the specialist is also known thanks to his initiatives to carry out scientific and research work on the re-equipment of space and ballistic missiles.
Mace
An important project of MIT was the creation of an intercontinental missile "Bulava", designed for sea-based. The design biography of Yuri Solomonov is full of such important works on a national scale. The order for the Bulava was received in 1998. Especially for her, the Borey submarine missile carrier, as well as the Dmitry Donskoy submarine missile cruiser, were modernized. These nuclear submarines were idle without the Bulava. The army could not take them into service.
Tests of the Bulava missile were first conducted in 2004 in Udmurtia. The production of these shells was planned to begin within a few years after the order was accepted by MIT. However, despite the efforts of the enterprise team and personally Yuri Solomonov, the first few launches wereunsuccessful. There were technical errors and design flaws. Only two out of eleven launches were considered part-time.
Failures forced the chief designer to resign from the post of head of the institute. The last straw was the failure of the launch on the nuclear submarine "Dmitry Donskoy" in the White Sea. It happened in July 2009. The media noted that this case was the first of its kind when the chief designer took personal responsibility for the failure of many years of work. It was the most difficult decision ever made by Yury Semenovich Solomonov. Parents, family and loved ones supported him at this difficult moment. The designer managed to admit defeat with his head held high.
Temporary setbacks
Roskosmos reacted quickly to Solomonov's resignation. The department noted that, despite the fact that he left the post of head of the institute, Yuri Semenovich remained at MIT as the general designer. The engineer continued to work on projects for sea and land-based missile systems. The position of director of the institute went to Sergei Nikulin. He won this place in a competition held by Roscosmos.
The main reason for the failure of the Mace was the problems that arose during the assembly phase. The process of creating a rocket was complicated by a lack of necessary components. Despite the fiasco, Bulava survived as a project. It was developed for a while by other people.
Acceptance of the "Mace" into service
In September 2010 wasthe post of general designer responsible for the creation of the Topol-M missile system was established. It was taken by Yuri Solomonov. The designer promised that the development will end in 2011. At the same time, under his leadership, work was resumed on the completion of the long-suffering "Mace". The Ministry of Defense demanded that the work be completed as soon as possible. In a few months, four successful launches of the Bulava were made. The missile was intended for the nuclear submarine "Yuri Dolgoruky". On June 28, 2011, an important successful launch was made from this carrier.
A few months later, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov announced that the missile had passed all the necessary tests. Soon she was put into service.
Disputes with the Department of Defense
In 2011, a scandal broke out in military circles, in the center of which was Yuri Solomonov. The designer criticized the Ministry of Defense for plans to develop a new type of heavy liquid rocket. The main opponent of the famous designer was Vladimir Popovkin. It was the Deputy Minister of Defense, who advocated the continuation of developments in this vein.
Solomonov did not agree with Popovkin. He called a press conference at the Interfax agency. The designer called the decision of the Ministry of Defense to continue the missile development program far-fetched and harmful. Solomon declared these shells unsuitable for use with modern technology. At the end of the press conference, the general designer of MIT also added that he considers this projectMinistry of Defense "a waste of money."
Ground analogue of the Mace
On May 24, 2012, a new rocket was launched at the strategically important cosmodrome in Plesetsk. The Ministry of Defense did not specify what kind of development it was. In fact, it turned out that this was the first ground analogue of Solomonov's Bulava, which had previously been launched from nuclear submarines. The famous designer was one of the main actors in the development of this secret project. The purpose of the new weapons was later named to oppose the complex to the American missile defense system deployed in Europe.
The missiles received improved performance compared to similar "Yars" and "Topol-M". From the first version of the Bulava, this complex received a solid type of fuel. It was developed specifically to make engines even more efficient. This project was extremely useful for the entire military-industrial complex of the country. MIT specialists have new design, scientific and research experience.
Cooperation with Luzhkov
For more than ten years, Solomonov collaborated a lot with Yuri Luzhkov, who until 2010 was the mayor of Moscow. The designer headed the initiative group that nominated the mayor for a second term in 1999. Solomonov professionally supported Luzhkov's projects, which he initiated in the capital.
For example, MIT developed the Moscow monorail especially for the mayor's office. Luzhkov and Solomon togetherregistered patents for inventions in the field of urban infrastructure. Their collaboration ended when the mayor was fired by Dmitry Medvedev, then President of Russia.
Scientific and writing activities
The Russian Academy of Sciences has many corresponding members of the technical profile associated with the army. Among them, Yuri Solomonov stands out. The nationality of the academician and engineer is Russian. Doctor of Technical Sciences became an inventor back in Soviet times, having received the USSR State Prize for his professional activities.
Solomonov wrote nine monographs, six textbooks and about three hundred scientific papers. He owns patents for 17 inventions. In connection with the public interest in the Bulava, the general designer of MIT wrote the documentary and fiction book "Nuclear Vertical". The novelty was popular with a wide reading audience. On April 28, 2015, the academician became one of the first citizens of Russia to be awarded the title of Hero of Labor.
The family of Yury Semenovich Solomonov lives with him in Moscow. Currently, the designer continues to work at MIT and lead research projects in the field of rocket science.
