RECORD · THE ENGINEERS

Who is actually designing these airships

Twelve named engineers carry the core of AERONOVA's airship program. Combined experience: 200+ years in rotating machinery, aeronautics, stratospheric aircraft, gas-turbine engines, and control systems. Most were trained at Bauman, MAI, MSTU Stankin, or the Moscow Automechanical Institute. Several have prior work on the Angara launch vehicle, Google Loon stratospheric balloons, and the AU-30 airship.

CORE TEAM · DESIGN AND ENGINEERING

Fyodor Konstantinov

Fyodor Konstantinov

Technical Director; head of the airship program
EDUCATIONMSTU Stankin
EXPERIENCE10+ years in mechanical and rocket engineering
RESPONSIBILITYOverall technical oversight, project selection, stratospheric systems, coordination with partner design bureaus.
BACKGROUNDKhrunichev State Research and Production Space Center — worked up from fitter to manager; Chief Technologist of the Angara launch vehicle (organizing production across all branches). Collaborator with Sergey Semyonov since 2018. Represented AERONOVA at Dubai Airshow 2025.
Vadim V. Zubkevich

Vadim V. Zubkevich

Chief Designer of airships (power scheme, aerodynamics, concept)
EDUCATIONBauman Moscow State Technical University
EXPERIENCE40 years in profession · 16 years as Chief Designer of airships
RESPONSIBILITYAirship engineering, power schemes, aerodynamic solutions, certification requirements.
BACKGROUNDVC Avgur (airship testing center) and Atlas design bureau. Worked on Google Loon — the Google stratospheric connectivity program for Equatorial Africa and Latin America. Chief Designer of the AU-30 airship (1-tonne payload with ballast system). Author of scientific publications in aeronautical engineering.
Dmitry S. Khmel

Dmitry S. Khmel

Chief Scientific Officer; Chief Designer of Aerolyot-01 (experimental hybrid airship)
EDUCATIONMoscow Aviation Institute (helicopter engineering)
EXPERIENCE40+ years · Candidate of Technical Sciences
RESPONSIBILITYHybrid airship design (combining aerostatic lift with aerodynamic lift), Aerolyot gondola design, handling and dynamics, flight performance calculations, tail surfaces, stabilization algorithms.
BACKGROUNDEarly 2000s: joined OVC Avgur — worked as lead engineer on configurations, high-altitude models, rigid and hybrid schemes. In 2005 met Alexander Kirillin, rigid-airship designer. Developed hybrid airship concepts from the early 2000s, built models that flew by 2010. Recruited into the competing 'First Airship' project (AKB), which never secured funding. Speaker at the April 2025 closed scientific conference.
Boris A. Ivchenko

Boris A. Ivchenko

Head of AERONOVA Design Bureau
EDUCATIONBauman Moscow State Technical University
EXPERIENCE40+ years · Candidate of Technical Sciences · Member of the Academy of Aviation and Aeronautics Sciences
RESPONSIBILITYLeadership of the design bureau, overall engineering decisions, partner coordination, certification requirements.
BACKGROUNDEarly 2000s: one of the founders of the Russian post-Soviet airship design collective, alongside Dmitry Khmel, at OVC Avgur. Author of 30+ scientific publications. Patent holder in aeronautical engineering. Co-speaker at the Orekhov Scientific Readings (July 2025). Represented AERONOVA at Dubai Airshow 2025.
Milad Ranaei

Milad Ranaei

Lead software engineer; automated control systems specialist; AI specialist
RESPONSIBILITYAirship control software, tablet/computer operator application with coordinate planning, key control-system developments, AI integration. Presented at Dubai Airshow 2025 (VISTA stage, November 19).

EXTENDED TEAM · PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS

Kamil Salikhov

Metal structures engineer

Manufacturing and design of shell test benches, metal structures, production hardware.

Vladimir Egorushkov

Design bureau engineer

Advisory on certification requirements, engineering questions across the program.

Shamil Arslanov

Assembly engineer (Aerolyot-01)

Assembly operations for the experimental hybrid airship.

Dmitry (last name not published)

Lead pilot-operator, Aerolyot-01

Piloting and operation of the experimental hybrid airship during test flights.

Unnamed specialist

Solar panel development — resident at a Chinese science and technology institute

Solar cell development for airship skins. Tracks cell efficiency progress (currently up to 26%, target 33%).

MICROTURBINE GROUP

Andrey V. Kostyukov

Andrey V. Kostyukov

Chief Designer of microturbines; lead researcher
EDUCATIONMoscow Automechanical Institute (Transport Gas-Turbine Engines department)
RESPONSIBILITYMicroturbines and microturbine power plants (30–50 kW, 300 kW, 400 kW), heat exchanger-recuperators, airship propulsion units, ceramic turbine components.
BACKGROUNDA dynasty — his father Veniamin M. Kostyukov was Chief Designer of gas-turbine engines at the Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod) Automobile Plant in the 1950s–60s, whose engineering documentation and turbine samples Kostyukov Jr. preserved at his university department. Has taught and supervised the current AERONOVA microturbine team — his former students. Worked at RNO (engine-industry organization).

Beyond Kostyukov himself, AERONOVA has stood up a dedicated microturbine engineering group — largely composed of his former students from the Moscow Automechanical Institute. Within a single year, they produced the first prototype units. The microturbine is the critical propulsion component for NOVA-8 and NOVA-35 and the follow-on rigid airships. Serial production is planned to begin in China in 2026 — pilot batch of ~5 units in 2026, hundreds in 2027, thousands per month by 2028+. Unit price is in the range of RUB 22–25 million (roughly USD 250–300K) — below global benchmarks for comparable power output.

HEADCOUNT AND STRUCTURE

As of October 2024, the company had 24 specialists plus 15 on contract. By 2025, the total headcount exceeded 45 professionals. The structure is explicitly a mix of young engineers and senior specialists from the older Soviet aeronautical tradition. In January 2026, the Academy of Aviation and Aeronautics Sciences held a formal industry review session inside the AERONOVA office — attended by Academy members, specialists from Bauman MSTU, MAI, and the Dolgoprudny DKBA, alongside the AERONOVA engineering team.