Aleksandr Ivanovich Blagonravov

Blagonravov began his military career by joining the Red Army and studied at the F. E. Dzerzhinsky Military Technical Academy, afterwards embarking on a career working in teaching and the designs of armoured vehicles. His work included the epicyclic gearing mechanisms employed on the T-34 and IS-2 tank designs, the latter work winning him the Stalin Prize in 1943. He took up leadership roles in the People's Commissariat of Defence of the Soviet Union towards the end of the war, later serving in the Scientific-Tank Committee in the Ministry of Defence's Main Armoured Directorate, and as Head of the Tank Department of the Military Academy of Mechanization and Motorization of the Red Army.

Blagonravov wrote a number of academic works, was a Candidate of Technical Sciences, and a docent, while reaching the rank of Engineer Lieutenant General. He was also a corresponding member of the Academy of Artillery Science. He had received several awards, including the Order of the Red Star, the Order of Lenin, and the Medal "For Battle Merit", prior to his death in 1962. His son, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Blagonravov, followed in his father's footsteps, serving as chief designer of Kurganmashzavod and playing an important role in the development of the BMP-2 and BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles.

Early life and design work

Blagonravov was born on 1 August [O.S. 19 July] 1906 in the village of Khitrovo, then part of Tambov Governorate, in the Russian Empire. He joined the Communist Party in 1929, and served in the Red Army from 1930. After studying at the F. E. Dzerzhinsky Military Technical Academy, he graduated in 1932 and began teaching and carrying out research. Alongside Mikhail Danchenko he developed the epicyclic gearing used in the T-34 tank, and participated in the development of the IS-2 heavy tank, creating a two-stage planetary rotation mechanism for the tank's engines. From 1944 onwards was part of the leadership of the People's Commissariat of Defence of the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1943 after the People's Commissar for Tank Industry Ivan Zaltsman wrote to the prize committee, requesting the prize for the "Creation of the KV-1S heavy tank". Credited alongside Blagonravov, listed at this period of his career as an engineer-podpolkovnik and teacher at the I. V. Stalin Military Academy of Mechanization and Motorization, were Nikolai Dukhov, Afanasy Yermolaev, Nikolai Shashmurin, Leonid Sychev, German Mikhailovich, Aleksandr Sternin, Yevgeny Dedov, Nikolai Sinyov and Abram Lesokhin.