Russian drones do not fly because the engineers and scientists were exterminated

Andrey Zlobin, mathematician, mechanical engineer, candidate of technical sciences, in the 90s - head of the CIAM sector.

Indeed, piston engines, along with small-sized gas turbine engines, play a huge role in the creation of drones. Surely many do not even know how long ago the foundation was laid for failures with Russian unmanned aerial vehicles. It all started a long time ago with N.S. Khrushchyov, who often "cut from the shoulder". He himself thought of this or someone "sang" to him, only in the era of rocketry it was decided not to spend too much money on aviation, and even more so on aircraft with piston engines.

No sooner said than done. As the old-timers of aviation engine-building said, the best designs of piston aircraft engines, including blueprints, were destroyed by order, many engineering teams were dispersed, and the specialists themselves were re-profiled to the jet theme. It turned out that all the unique achievements in piston engine building, which allowed the Soviet country to win the 1941-1945 war, were nullified in one fell swoop. For the piston engineering school of the USSR, it was a disaster. Automatically, this was a blow to the automotive industry as well, since automobile engines absorbed the best practices of piston aircraft. Is it any wonder that Russians now have to master Western screwdriver technologies for making cars? Blaming Soviet engineers is stupid. Destroying the "pistons", nobody was interested in the opinion of the engineers.

To break is not to build. It was very difficult to restore the destroyed piston engineering school. Gradually, the technologies of reciprocating internal combustion engines (ICE) were revived in the USSR, specialists were preparing until a new attack struck. Again, decisions were made bypassing the engineers themselves. During the construction of the Third Transport Ring of Moscow, the left wing of the building of the Faculty of Power Engineering of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University was demolished to the ground. It was in this wing that the key Russian engineering laboratories and departments of Internal Combustion Engines, Turbo Building, and Thermodynamics were located.

Now a blow has been dealt not only to piston engines, but also to the most important schools of thermodynamics and gas turbine engines. To say that this was another disaster is to say nothing. The entire energy industry was affected, including high-power gas turbine engines for power plants.

How much can you mock engineers? After the dashing 90s, when we were not paid our salaries for months, when the rampant crime pressured, our families died out, it is simply naive to expect the world's best drones from engineers.

During the years of "perestroika", seven people died in my family and not a single one was born. The question is - is it from a good life? But our family was an engineering dynasty of creators of unmanned aerial vehicles. As a result, I have to remember my father, who devoted his whole life to cruise missiles, as actually disappeared. I have only his death certificate in my hands ...

Today we need to erect monuments during their lifetime, to those who still work in the motor specialty and are trying to do the impossible.

Shoulder to shoulder - the "most dangerous" dynasty of the defense industry of the 90s. Graduates of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University. Father on the right is Yevgeny Ivanovich Zlobin, cruise missile designer at NPO Mashinostroyenia (scientific development and production center). On the left is the son - Andrey Evgenievich Zlobin, head of the CIAM sector "Engines of unmanned aerial vehicles". The photo was taken at an open exhibition of cruise missiles on the City Day (Reutov, 1995).

Only outspoken amateurs can claim that Soviet aircraft engines were supposedly worse than foreign ones. Maybe the MiG-25 interceptor was hijacked to Japan to admire its red stars? No! First of all, in order to study the unique Soviet aircraft engine. Foreigners literally hunted for Soviet aviation developments. Take the same Yak-141, from which the current most modern American fighter F-35 was almost "licked". I will say for myself - in the 90s I was ahead of western aviation science by about thirty years. No wonder I was officially recognized as the best young scientist of CIAM and awarded a diploma for the best research work. Today my ideas are half a century ahead of foreigners. But how to work if your developments can simply steal? And it would be okay to at least refer to the author's priority, but they do not. Here's an example. In 1988, I made a world-class discovery by predicting superconductivity in meteorites at the tip of my pen. Published a scientific article. CIAM sent an official letter to the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences about meteoritic superconductivity. Only in 2018 did American experts confirm my 30-year-old prediction and recorded the phenomenon of superconductivity in meteorites with instruments. Having published an article in the prestigious journal Science, the Americans did not consider it necessary to refer to my priority at all. At the same time, meteorite superconductivity promises great prospects in the aerospace field...

I know many scientists who continue their selfless work at CIAM (Central Institute of Aviation Motors). They are brilliant world-class specialists whose work you can truly be proud of. Thanks to them, the institute continues to hold the highest bar and occupies the first lines in the ratings of the world's aerospace elites. Isn't the latest development of CIAM fascinating - the aviation version of the Aurus executive car engine? And how many in the world can boast of the use of high-temperature superconductivity technologies in aircraft engines? The only thing that aircraft engine builders need is serious material support, not in words, but in deeds. The Russian engineering and scientific schools of mechanics have been beaten up for too long. And if luxurious villas of scientists and engineers begin to appear on Rublyovka, then there is no doubt that the enemies of our country will howl from the perfection of Russian drones. It is also important that decisions in the field of aviation technology are made not by amateurs-functionaries, but by highly qualified specialists with extensive experience in the aviation industry and aviation engineering education. If all this does not happen, then neither the slogans from the high rostrum, nor the achievements of digitalization will help.