OKB

During the Soviet era, OKBs were closed institutions working on design and prototyping of advanced technology, usually for military applications.

For security, each bureau was only officially identified by a number, but were often semi-officially referenced by the name of its lead designer.

Successful and famous bureaus often retained these names after the departure of their founding designer.

These relatively small state-run organisations were not intended for mass production of aircraft, rockets, or other vehicles or equipment which they designed.

There were some attempts to merge them in the 1990s, and there were widespread amalgamations in 2001–2006 to create "national champion" corporations, such as Almaz-Antey to consolidate surface-to-air missile development.