Vasily Bakalov

Born in 1929, Bakalov served during the Second World War in his youth, drawing on his experience with OSVOD [ru], a voluntary organization promoting water safety and work, while crewing vessels to transport military personnel, civilians and weapons.

Among the designs developed under his supervision was the Drozd active protection system for tanks and armoured vehicles for use against anti-tank missiles and rocket-propelled grenades.

Bakalov was born on 18 April 1929 in the village of Semeyka, in Central Black Earth Oblast, then part of the RSFSR, in the Soviet Union.

With the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Bakalov and other OSVOD members were called up to support the war effort by crewing vessels to transport military personnel, civilians and weapons.

[1][3] In 1948 Bakalov enrolled in the Electrical Engineering College in Alma-Ata, graduating with honours, and then entering the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute of Communications.

[4] TsKIB SOO, in full the "Central Design and Research Bureau of Sports and Hunting Weapons", specialized in the development and manufacture of sports and hunting weapons, small arms, anti-tank and anti-personnel grenade launchers, machine-gun turrets and small-calibre artillery naval anti-aircraft installations.

The Soviet team for the shooting competitions at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow all used MTs brand weapons designed and manufactured by TsKIB SOO.

[1][2] Among the designs developed under his supervision was the Drozd active protection system for tanks and armoured vehicles for use against anti-tank missiles and rocket-propelled grenades.