NPO Astrofizika

The development of lasers in the USSR took place in the 60s within the design office of OKB Vympel, but soon there was a need to set up a separate scientific and production organization that would focus only on this field of science and technology. For this reason, the central design office of CKB Luch was established in 1969. During the 1970s, the Luch Design Bureau was reorganised into the NPO Astrofizika, which included other firms in this field including the Granat High Energy Laser Special Design Bureau. The name was later changed to SKB Astrophysics and in 1978 to NPO Astrophysics.

Nikolay Dmitriyevich Ustinov (1931–1992) the son of Minister of Defense Ustinov, was a scientist in the field of applied radiophysics and optical and laser technology, Hero of Socialist Labor ; Laureate of the State Prize of the USSR ; Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (Russian Academy of Sciences); Doctor of Technical Sciences , Professor ; General designer of the Scientific and Production Association "Astrophysics" of the Ministry of Radio Industry of the USSR ; Head of the Department of Quantum Optical Systems of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology ; Chief Scientific Officer, Acting Director, Director of the Institute of the History of Natural Science and Technology named after S.I. Vavilov Academy of Sciences of the USSR (Russian Academy of Sciences).

Nikolai Dmitrievich was awarded the USSR State Prize in the field of science and technology as part of the team of specialists of the Central Design Bureau "Luch". Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR ( with the stamp "top secret" ) dated June 3, 1980 " For outstanding services in the creation of new models of special equipment". An outstanding scientist in the field of radiophysics and the creator of optical technology and laser location, Nikolai Dmitrievich Ustinov, died on November 8, 1992 after a short illness.

Beginning in 1963, a group of scientists from this design bureau began to analyze the new opportunities that were opened in connection with the creation of lasers. In 1965, in support of this project, N.G. Basov (the scientific supervisor of the program), Yu.B. Khariton , E. N. Tsarevsky and G.V. Kisun'ko (developers of the scientific program of the project ) sent an official memo to the Central Committee of the CPSU, which talked about the principle possibility of destroying the head parts of ballistic missiles by laser radiation and proposed to deploy the corresponding experimental program. The ideological inspirers of the project were outstanding physicists : Nikolai Gennadievich Basov, Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciencesand then the Professor (future Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences ) Oleg Nikolaevich Krokhin.

In the second half of the 1960s the laser direction became closely within the framework of the OKB "Vympel". The decision was made to establish a large specialized scientific and design organization for research, development and testing of powerful ( high-energy ) lasers and laser systems based on them.

N.D. Ustinov worked in the Special Design Bureau "Vympel" under the guidance of an outstanding scientist in the field of radio electronics, the organizer of the works in the field of missile defense, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR Grigory Kisunko. Working at this enterprise, Nikolai Dmitrievich Ustinov went from engineer to group leader.

By this time in OKB "Vympel" formed the backbone of the development of laser technology, which had become the foundation created in 1969 a new specialized Central Design Bureau "Luch", entered in the structure of the Ministry of Defense Industry of the USSR and later transformed into the Central Design Bureau "Astrophysics" (since 1978 - Scientific and Production Association "Astrophysics" ).

Ustinov was a leading scientist at the Luch Central Design Bureau (TsKB Luch), which produced military laser weapons. Teams of top-notch specialists worked on dozens of different Central Committee and Council of Ministers decrees, VPK resolutions, Ministers’ orders, and also on their own plans. Ustinov had originally been a designer in the KB-1 organisation (now NPO Almaz) specialising in anti-ballistic missile systems. The new NPO Astrofizika, headed by was created in the Ministry of the Defense Industry to develop a laser “death ray” weapon.

The core of the scientific team consisted of MG Vasin (chief engineer), VK Orlov, ND Ustinov, VF Morskov and IS Kosminov. A number of scientific institutes and production plants have entered the structure of the new venture, but the requirement to create a separate, dedicated test facility has also emerged. That is why the scientific and research center OKB Raduga, which developed, manufactured and operated equipment, on which lasers from NPO Astrophysics were tested. Most attention was devoted to carbon dioxide gas lasers that worked in the infrared section of the spectrum (10.6 microns wavelength), but neodymium lasers were also tested.

Vympel was primarily responsible for the overall conception and design of Terra-3, but the actual lasers were developed by NPO Astrofizika. Although the complex provided the Soviet program with considerable detail about laser interaction with typical ICBM and reentry vehicles, Terra-3 did not prove practical as a weapon.

The first practical application was the LE-1 laser locator, built in 1979 and installed at the Sary Shagan base in Kazakhstan. It was part of the Terra program, which dealt with the detection and observation of space objects (not only orbital bodies, but also ballistic missiles and their heads), while laser weapons were part of the project called Omega. LE-1 (or 5N27) was a massive laser radar that consisted of 196 laser transmitters with a focal length of 70 m; together with the relevant computing equipment, formed the 5N76 laser localization complex.

The installation of the laser locator LE-1 with the TG-1 telescope was started in 1973 at the 10th State Research and Testing Range of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR Sary-Shagan in the Kazakh SSR. The task that stoodbefore the developers , has been successfully solved - a complex, fast-acting system was created for the guidance of 196 laser beams in the target space with a total length of the optical path of the radar of 70 meters.

Astrophysika developed space reconnaissance assets. In 1978, the AST-1200 optical telescope with a 1.2-meter main mirror was put into operation.

In 1979, the Terra-3 complex with a laser locator and a TG-1 telescope was accepted for joint maintenance with military unit No. 3080 ( GNIIP No. 10 of the Ministry defense of the USSR - the test site of Sary-Shagan ). After entering into operation on throughout the 1970-1980's complex actively used in the construction of the principles of research and working out of technical decisions laser systems for the destruction of aircraft, warheads of ballistic missiles in the final stage of the flight trajectory , as well as for the space monitoring system. And it was this system, which shone the American Space Shuttle on October 10, 1984, which, of course, triggered sharp US protests.

However, the Soviets have already been working on a new, far more sophisticated space-monitoring system. It was a 45K6 Krona complex that was installed in the northern Caucasus and has a radar and optical section. The centimeter and decimeter radars capture and track an object that is then "enlightened" by the 30Z6 laser (a NPO Astrophysics product) so it can be easily tracked by a telescope or taken with special cameras. The construction of the Krona plant began in 1979, but the work was slow enough and there was also a lack of finance; the radar part was only put into operation in 1999 and the optical one even in 2005.

Another NPO product group Astrophysics is a non-lethal weapon designed to de-opt for hostile optoelectronics. The first one was the 1K11 Stilet, introduced in 1982. The 1K11 Stilet was a Soviet autonomous laser system, meant for the neutralization of the optic-electronic devices of the enemy. It uses the GM-123 chassis (the same as the known GMZ miniser), which features a turret with an infrared laser and a coaxial 7.62mm machine gun. The laser can "blind" the optical sensors or enemy weapon guidance systems at a distance of several kilometers. There were two prototypes delivered for field and certification testings by the Army and in 1982 were integrated in the Soviet arsenal. Nevertheless, their production never begun.

In 1983, the Sangvin system, designed against air targets, followed. In fact, it is a modification of the known self-propelled ZSU-23-4 Šilka, instead of a fourteen 23mm cannons, however, a laser with a SRV (firing firing device) laser is used that allows accurate aiming without a large mirror. Sangvin may temporarily disable optoelectronics over a distance of more than 10 km and cause irreversible damage to a smaller distance.

In 1985, a sample of the EK-00 functional suppression laser space complex with a shaping optical system was created and passed experimental tests.

In 1986, another similar set was constructed, called Akvilon, this time intended for smaller warships. It is used to destroy enemy optoelectronics on the coast, and it was probably installed on several Soviet navy vessels. The most powerful non-smudged laser weapon from NPO Astrophysics, however, represents the Sžatije system, manufactured in 1992. It is a "battery" of twelve lasers on the T-80 chassis; a special focusing system can quickly focus on high-reflection objects, especially those of the opponent's optical sensors.

The NPO Astrophysics team also played a major role in destructive laser projects for military space stations (see also ATM 8/2008). The first demonstrator was the 17F19D Skif-D set on board the aircraft, labeled A-60, or Il-76LL with BL (laser-fired labo- ratory laboratories). The infrared laser energy delivered a 2.1 MW turbine generator. It was planned that a space station carrying a similar laser and two turbine generators with a total power output of 2.4 MW would be transported in orbit in 1987. Meanwhile, it was decided to take Poljus station with a model demonstrator 17F19DM Skif-DM; the Energija rocket started with it on May 15, 1987, but a crash occurred and the body collapsed into the Pacific Ocean. Then Mikhail Gorbachev stopped his further development work. Therefore, the subsequent 17F19S Skif-Stilet program was not implemented, which was actually to be magnified (and, of course, much more powerful) to modify the 1K11 Stilet ground laser complex. However, it only reached the mock-up stage, which was made in August 1987. The performances of these spacecraft should be sufficient to destroy enemy (ie, US) satellites.

In 1988 the bureau NPO "Astrofizika", designed and developed a self moving, autonomous system for detecting and identifying various kinds of Radio-Bio-Chemical pollution, named Dal. NPO Astrophysics presented a completely unique laser device, which at that time (and many years later) was unmatched in the world. It is a remote chemical reconnaissance complex KDChR-1N Dal, which is able (as the name suggests) to recognize the presence of combat chemicals at a distance, without the need for sampling.

In 1989, Astrophysicists created a full-scale complex stand for the formation and delivery of high-power laser radiation energy to a distant object with an adaptive optical telescoping system ST-1800.

A project was being prepared for the world's largest telescope, AST-25, but it seems that it was never created due to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, NPO Astrophysics suffered similar problems as almost all other elements of the former Soviet military-industrial complex. A seemingly endless influx of money had disappeared, some projects had been canceled and others were completed with a long delay (including the Kron device).

In the 1990s, the total headcount of NPO Astrophysics was variously estimated at between 5,000 and 10,000 staff members.

NPO Astrophysics had, at least, the advantage of offering an extremely wide range of civilian laser applications to other companies, making it possible to convert to a relatively non-military production with relatively small losses. The current production program of NPO Astrophysics in any case demonstrated that laser technologies developed during the Soviet Union still offer valuable applications and that the Russian Federation continues to maintain a very strong position in the development and manufacture of lasers. According to the manufacturer, one is particularly suitable for the surveillance of chemical plants. The second device is a mobile laser system for remote firing of explosive systems or unexploded ammunition, the equivalent of laser means already found in the armament of a number of Western armies. Both devices are mounted on the trucks of the trucks. Today, therefore, the offer includes a variety of laser devices for astronomy, metallurgy, communications, solar power, medicine and education.