Viktor Tikhomirov - Early Background

Early Background

Victor Tikhomirov was born in Kineshma, a medium-sized city now in Ivanovo Oblast. Upon completing secondary school, he first worked as an electrician in the Donetz Basin (Donbass) region of Eastern Ukraine, and then at the Donbass mines of Metrostroi (the operator of Moscow’s subway system). In 1934, he was admitted to study radio technology at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute (MPEI – also called Moscow Energy Institute) where he finished with distinction in 1940. The Higher Attestation Commission awarded him the Doctor of Engineering degree in February 1966.

While pursuing his pre-graduation studies, Tikhomirov became a senior technician at the Nauchno-issledovatelsky institute-20 (Scientific Research Institute-20, NII-20) in Moscow, a close affiliate of the Aviapribor Plant, a manufacturer of aircraft instruments and radios. There he assisted in developing radiolokatory (radio-location, later called radar) equipment. Jointly with NII-9 in Leningrad, NII-20 developed an experimental set called Redut (Redoubt). Upon graduating from MEI, Tikhomirov was assigned as an engineer at NII-20, working in a team to improve Redut. This soon evolved to the Radio Ulavlivatel Samoletov-2 (Radio Catcher of Aircraft) designated RUS-2. Although mobile, this was a bi-static system with separated transmitter and receiver vans and antennas.

Tikhomirov’s capabilities were soon recognized, and in early 1941, he was made Laboratory Head and Deputy Technical Manager of the NII-20. Engineers at the NII-20, with the cooperation of NII-9 in Leningrad, further improved the RUS-2, developing a transmit-receive device (a duplexer) allowing a single antenna, as well as a range display based on a cathode-rayoscilloscope.