From the 1953 Special Set to the 2014 Special Set. It should provide the rocket and space industry with highly qualified specialists.
Our military-industrial complex has long lost its leading position in the world, which it had 30 – 40 years ago. Now its products in the form of modern high-performance and high-precision weapons are uncompetitive. Numerous unsuccessful launches of missiles led, in addition to moral ones, to enormous material losses, amounting to tens of billions of rubles. We have to state a huge lag in the creation, mastering and implementation of the latest modern information and communication technologies, which are the basis for development in many spheres of human activity.
According to various estimates, our lag behind advanced countries in these areas ranges from 5 to 10 years. It is urgent to take measures to correct the current crisis situation. Otherwise, the lag will continuously increase and lead to an unrecoverable position.
In this regard, it is advisable to refer to the experience of creating and further applying the special set 1953 of the year with the introduction of the necessary proofs that take into account the specifics of today's time.
The 1953 Special Set was created early that year. By this time, the first samples of ground-to-surface, ground-to-air, and air-to-ground missile technology began to appear as part of the Soviet army. An acute problem arose in the training in the shortest possible time of competent military specialists of the new profile, who were to ensure the effective operation of complex rocket technology in the army, as well as the conduct of research, development, production and test work.
The traditional recruitment of students for the I course of military academies was unacceptable, since it took more than six years to implement it. Specialists were needed today.
21 January 1953 of the Year Council of Ministers of the USSR issued a fateful decree number 170-80ss. It ordered to organize the accelerated release of 900 missile specialists at the rocket armament department of the Military Artillery Engineering Academy. F.E. Dzerzhinsky. This was to be accomplished by recruiting senior students from leading civilian technical universities of the country to the V course of the Academy. That is, actually engineers were already called up. The recruitment was carried out in two stages: in February-March, 1953 was called upon by 500 students graduating from the V course of the institute, and in August, 400 after the end of the IV course. Officially, the call and admission to the academy were made with the consent of the selected candidates, but then it turned out that they were forcibly called.
The training period for accelerated release was determined in 15 months, including practice at the plant and the test site. Admitted to the academy immediately assigned the military rank of "Technician-lieutenant", and at the end - "Engineer-Lieutenant." The set was made among the best, essentially they selected the cream of students - those who owned deep and strong mathematical and technical knowledge and had a penchant for creativity.
These 900 students fully justified the hopes placed on them. They have made a worthy contribution to the creation of new strategic and anti-aircraft missiles, a breakthrough in space and its development, the creation of modern highly efficient automated control systems of wide use, the development of scientific and technological progress, and the security of the country and the world on our planet. Among the special forces 20 became generals, and most of them reached the rank of colonel. 27 received a doctoral degree, 138 - PhD. Some successfully combined professional activities with teaching in universities. 16 was awarded the title of laureate of the State Prize of the USSR, six were awarded the honorary title of Honored Scientist and Technician of the RSFSR, and 12 became academicians and corresponding members of various academies.
Today there is every reason to take advantage of this experience in order to correct the crisis situation, but, of course, with the introduction of the necessary adjustments.
Selection mechanism
The creation of the 2014 special set of the year should, as in 1953, be based on a special decree of the Russian government ordering to organize an accelerated release of N rocket specialists in the L stages of recruitment at the faculty of M Peter the Great Strategic Missile Forces Academy F. Dzerzhinsky Academy of Engineering). This should be done by recruiting the best senior undergraduates from leading civilian technical universities of the country to the V course of the Academy.
A special government commission should prepare this decree itself, determine the N, L and NL values (for each stage separately), the call dates for each stage, clarify the concept of M, draw up a list of relevant civilian universities (with faculties and specialties), define general criteria and student selection rules, create a commission for their selection, establish a set of necessary preparatory activities at the academy.
In determining the values of N, L and NL, the needs of both the Ministry of Defense and the defense industry should be taken into account. Preference should be given to the DIC. First you need to eliminate the backlog in the rocket and space industry and in the industry of highly efficient and high-precision weapons, create new models of products and systems, and then introduce them into the Rocket and Space Forces, Air Defense Forces and troops of other purposes.
Determining the number of stages of recruitment and the timing of the call should be made based primarily on the task of starting the call as soon as possible. At the same time, of course, the possibilities of the academy to carry out the necessary restructuring and preparatory activities for making the special set 2014 of the year in full and the possibility of a commission for the selection of students in full should be taken into account. Based on all this, the number of stages L must be at least two. The main part of the graduates of the first stage should be distributed in organizations and enterprises of the military-industrial complex.
At the subsequent stages, the distribution must be made both to civil defense organizations and to the military services of the Ministry of Defense. It is also necessary to prepare and issue a special government decree ordering that those who graduate from the 2014 special set of the year, who will be sent to permanent jobs in civilian defense organizations, remain in the military service while retaining all the privileges and benefits.
In drawing up the list of civilian higher education institutions (faculties and specialties), those should be selected that will ensure the most effective (and at the same time, in a short time) the acquisition of former students by new additional specialties at the academy. The selection criteria and rules should ensure that the call is really a cream of students who have strong mathematical and technical knowledge, are interested in the new field of activity and are capable of creativity.
In determining the necessary preparatory activities at the academy, it is necessary to take into account both the learning process and the living conditions of the students. It is advisable to consider attracting additional faculty members from other academies and civilian universities to the academy, taking into account the increase in the number of students and the need to teach them not only special subjects.
A call to the army and admission to the academy of selected candidates should be carried out only with their consent. Forced conscription into the 1953 special unit of the year in some cases led to emergencies (alcohol abuse and even suicide).
In order for the selected students' cream to give their consent, it is necessary for them to reveal in detail and vividly (with the involvement of the professionals of this business) the attractive prospects for the upcoming prestigious professional activity in an important and interesting industry and the prospects for material well-being (and all this should be guaranteed to them). At the same time, they should immediately feel an improvement in their financial situation, given that the monetary allowance for the military position of the student of the academy and the military rank should be many times greater than the student scholarship (even taking into account the different types of part-time jobs they produce). In this regard, it is advisable to consider the issue that, in order to ensure a more sustainable appeal, students of the academy will immediately be assigned the military title of “Senior Lieutenant Technician”.
Most of the 1953 special forces recruits of the year were dissatisfied with the difficult living conditions in the officers' hostels of the academy. Muscovites should have been in them for a two-month "quarantine" period, and non-resident - for the entire duration of their studies. A gymnasium, Suvorov Hall and other large rooms, in which bunk beds were installed, were reequipped for dormitories (I personally got a berth on the second tier in the Suvorov Hall). And more than a hundred listeners were located in each such room. This, of course, depressed the inhabitants of the hostel and had a negative effect on their well-being, mood and performance.
A radical solution to this housing issue can be carried out as follows. Nonresident students should be given an additional cash allowance with which they could rent a house for the period of study at the academy - a room, a one-room apartment for two. At the same time, for those of them who will be separated from their families and friends, it will be possible, through their own surcharge, to rent housing with a larger area. This will allow them to call their relatives and friends to Moscow for temporary residence during the period of study.
Learning process
Students of the special set 1953 of the year were divided into courses on 50 – 100 people on the basis of the new specialty (from related institutes), and courses on sections on 25 people. Heads of courses were appointed from among the academy staff in the rank of lieutenant colonel and colonel. Heads of courses and department heads were appointed from the audience. The departments, as a rule, were recruited from students who came from one institute and knew each other earlier, which in many respects made it easier for new students to adapt to a different situation.
This approach must be maintained for the 2014 special set of the year. It is also necessary in order for students to master a different set and volume of knowledge (both in the special field and in general application areas), depending on the new acquired specialty and specialties received by students in civil universities.
Most of the knowledge and practical experience gained at the Academy by students of the 1953 special set of the year was associated with the new military rocket technology. However, they received a lot of new knowledge in areas of general application, such as automated control systems, probability theory, ballistics, and a number of others. This approach should be retained for the special set 2014 of the year. Today, it is advisable to supplement the program with such disciplines as information and communication technologies (ICT), mathematical modeling of the studied processes (MMRP), automation tools for software development (SARPO), and others.
The order of training students 1953 special set, radically different from the order of training students in civilian universities. So they had to quickly adapt and adapt.
First of all, it concerned the introduction of a clear and strict daily routine, the violation of which was not allowed. Former students, of course, were oppressed by the usual attributes of military life - barracks, building, saluting, constant cleaning of buttons and buckles, filing white undercaps and other “gifts” of military discipline and charters. Unpleasant were the recent students, accustomed to independence, mandatory hours of self-study.
The very methodology of the educational process at the academy for students of the special set 1953 of the year was significantly different from that in civilian universities. “In civil society” a professor or an associate professor simply gave a lecture and at the end answered the questions of students. The results of the students' mastering of the lecture material were found out mainly on examinations only. In the academy, the lectures in many subjects began with an 15-minute survey of students on the lecture material they had passed. The question could be asked to anyone. This prompted all students to continuously monitor and master the material covered, since the results of the survey were immediately heard by the authorities of the special course and disciplinary measures were taken against unscrupulous students.
The procedure of self-training was a mandatory part of the daily routine for each student. Self-preparation was carried out daily at a strictly defined time and in a strictly defined place (the main part of the material studied was classified). Arrival on self-training and departure from it were strictly recorded, and disciplinary measures were also taken to listeners for possible violations.
As a result, the development of new knowledge and practical skills and preparation for final exams went on a daily and continuous basis, and on the days just before the exams it was necessary to acquire the knowledge and skills just to streamline and polish.
The order and methods of training students 1953 special year, bore worthy results. The diplomas with honors were 32 percent of graduates of the first set and 16 percent - of the second. These figures differed sharply from the results achieved by other categories of graduates of the Academy.
Today it is only necessary to clarify the list of disciplines, lectures on which must necessarily begin with a survey of students on the material studied. As for the order of training, here the most painful is the question of compulsory daily self-preparation. After all, former students are accustomed to independence in the distribution of their time. In the first period of study, self-preparation should be mandatory for all students without any deviations or exceptions. In subsequent periods, concessions and simplifications of different levels should be introduced for successful listeners, up to and including an independent decision on whether or not to attend on specific days. After all, mastering the material covered in the relaxed atmosphere of your apartment can be performed much more efficiently. Of course, all this applies only to disciplines without secrecy.
Distribution and Promotion
All graduates of the special unit 1953 of the year were awarded the military rank of “Engineer-Lieutenant”, they were awarded diplomas and badges about graduating from the academy. All were distributed to new places of military service. The most prestigious was considered the distribution in the adjunct of the Academy, which implied the subsequent preparation and defense of the thesis, as well as teaching and research activities. In second place was the distribution to research institutes and design bureaus of the Ministry of Defense, followed by serving as military representatives at factories, training grounds, and military units.
Distribution was planned in such a way as to obtain maximum efficiency in the use of young personnel. Of the 894 graduates, the order of 25 percent was sent to the rocket forces, to the Air Defense Forces - also about 25 percent, to the military missions - approximately 20 percent. On landfills (PB, Air Defense, NE) received an appointment 155 people. The research institutes of the MO were distributed around 60, and in military educational institutions - 71 people. 23 graduates were assigned to the central office of the Ministry of Defense.
This distribution was far from the best. The available capabilities, talents, and abilities of 1953 Special Graduates of the year were far from being fully utilized and applied.
The strength of the special forces were their excellent engineering and mathematical training, the craving for creativity. Classical military school they did not have. And it was difficult for them to command the soldiers. Many special forces, trapped in the army, were extremely dissatisfied with their fate. They saw that their knowledge, engineering abilities are not used here, and, on the contrary, they are required to do what the special forces do not own and do not want to own. As a result, they became second-class officers. This exacerbated the reluctance to serve in the army. The spetsnaborovtsy filled up their commanders with multiple reports of dismissal from the Armed Forces. And for this, even deliberately violated discipline. As a result, after two years (in 1956 – 1957), most of the special forces in the units were redistributed to scientific research institutes, military schools, military missions.
Considering that the 2014 special unit of the year will be formed from the cream of the students and with their consent, and that its graduates have excellent engineering and mathematical training and a propensity for creativity, the distribution should be organized in such a way that the capabilities and abilities of this set are really used and fully utilized. . The main part of the graduates of the 2014 special set of the year should be sent to permanent work in research institutes, design offices and factories that are not only part of the Ministry of Defense (as was the case for the 1953 special set of the year), but also in various civil defense departments. complex. Preference should be given to the defense industry. To this end, a special government decree should be prepared in advance, requiring that the graduates of the 2014 special forces of the year, who will be sent to full-time civilian defense organizations, remain in military service while retaining all the privileges and benefits.
First you need to eliminate the backlog in the rocket and space industry and the industry of high-performance and high-precision weapons, create new models of products and systems, and then introduce them into the Aerospace Defense Forces, military air defense and other types of troops.
All this will allow in the shortest possible time to solve the most important task for the country in correcting the critical situation in the creation of the newest effective weapons, space exploration and the development of scientific and technological progress.
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