For his exceptional professional achievements for benefit of the country and his large contribution to shipbuilding industry, by Presidential Decree of Russia, the title of Hero of Labour of the Russian Federation was granted to Director General of Rubin Design Bureau, Igor V. Vilnit.

Engineer by education, Doctor of Engineering Science, Igor Vilnit has worked in shipbuilding industry since 1979. His career has seen all the way up designer ranks, and since 2012, he has been the head of the Bureau.

Guided by Igor Vilnit, Rubin engineers have designed strategic missile cruisers Borei-A, the naval component of nuclear triad, essential to strategic security of the country. Director General has joined multiple sorties onboard lead submarine of Borei-A class, taking part in her trials at various stages.

With Igor Vilnit taking the lead, development of advanced designs of special maritime technologies for the Russian Navy is progressing.

Significant is the personal contribution of Director General to conventional submarine industry, particularly to development of fourth-generation submarine Lada, as well as to deep modification of Pr. 636 submarines, embodied in several series of submarines of this type.

Initiated by Igor Vilnit, undersea robotic systems are now under development by Rubin, which is a new domain for the Bureau. In 2020, unmanned undersea vehicle Vityaz-D, which design and construction took the Bureau only 33 months, accomplished a fully autonomous mission in Mariana Trench. Two years later, Rubin launched new facility for design, assembly and trials of autonomous unmanned undersea vehicles.

For his service, Director General of Rubin Design Bureau was decorated with Order of Alexander Nevsky, Order of Naval Merit and Order of Military Merit. Igor Vilnit is a two-time laureate of the Russian Federation Government Prize in Science and Technology, an honoured worker of design and machine building industries of the Russian Federation, awarded the badge of honour "For Services to St. Petersburg."

Photo: Oleg Kuleshov