CONVERSION: NAVIGATION INSTITUTE

• Document Type: FOIA
• Keywords: UFO SPECIAL COLLECTION
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005516637
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: June 24, 2015
• Document Release Date: January 31, 2011
• Case Number: F-2010-00651
• Publication Date: November 20, 1992

C00174672
Page: 10 of 27
Concatenated JPRS Reports, 1993
Document 7 of 19 Page 1
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED Status: [STAT]
Document Date: 20 Nov 92 Category: [CAT]
Report Type: JPRS report Report Date:
Report Number: JPRS-UMA-93-003 UDC Number:
Author(s): Olga Kuznetsova: "It Was Silly to Keep Us in the
Background"]
Headline: Conversion: Navigation Institute
Source Line: 93UM0266A St. Petersburg NEVSKOYE VREMYA in Russian 20
Nov 92 p 2
Subslug: [Article by Olga Kuznetsova: "'It Was Silly to Keep Us in
the Background " ]
FULL TEXT OF ARTICLE:
1. [Article by Olga Kuznetsova: "It Was Silly to Keep Us in the
Background"]
2. [Text] Passing through the streets of St. Petersburg, we scarcely
pay attention to many institutions whose entryways have no plaques or
signs explaining what department is located there. One such anonymous
building is located on Vasilyevskiy island, not far from the Harbor.
But- Just- recently--a -sign -was-flung--up: NINGI MUD which Scientific-Research Navigational-Hydrographic Institute of the
Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation.
3. I was the first newspaper person to cross the threshold of this
institute, which on the inside is more reminiscent of a military unit
than a scientific research institute.
4. Practically all national research in the field of navigation and
hydrography has been concentrated here for dozens of years, on the
corner of Bolshoy Prospekt and the Kozhevennaya Line. Here they
developed and improved the onboard apparatus now in use (and not only
by the military) without which not a single modern vessel would brave
the open sea, and also the means for navigational equipment of sea
routes and ports, and hydrographic and hydrometerological equipment.
It was within these walls that a system was developed for determining
the location of ships and other objects using artificial satellites.
Even UFO-ology was within the field of research of the institute, and
for many years they accumulated a lot of material here in this field.
An enormous intellectual potential is concentrated at the institute:
dozens of specialists have been awarded scientific degrees, and it
has its own doctoral council.
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Concatenated JPRS Reports, 1993
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subordinate to the military department, are not going through the
best of times now. Many institutes have had their financing cut, and
the threat of closure looms. This has also affected NINGI. But
finally it became clear to its leadership that if the institute was
to survive, it had to emerge from the underground, since not only the
military requires navigational equipment. But in the words of the
deputy chief of NINGI, Captain 1st Rank Sergey Alekseyev, the
traditional curtain of secrecy surrounding the institute did not
allow it to openly use its scientific potential and rich data bank,
the results of all national hydrographic expeditions since the
twenties. According to existing instructions, scientists of the
institute could not contact colleagues from other scientific
institutions, and frequently there was duplication of research into
the identical areas by civilians and the military. "It was silly to
keep us in the background," Sergey Alekseyev believes.
6. But the process of conversion, part of which was liberation from
the fetters of excessive secrecy, which recently has seemed to be
simply an anachronism, has also touched NINGI. A year ago the
decision was made to hold a scientific and technical conference at
the institute, to which all interested parties could be invited,
chiefly civilian organizations. And this conference "The Modern
Status and Problems of Naval and Air Navigation" was a success.
-Three---hundred-specialists, representing the major scientific organs
and industrial facilities of Russian, thie CIS countries and-the--------------
Baltics countries, for three days they shared their experience and
became acquainted with the latest developments, for which an
exhibition of new technical equipment was arranged.
7. Since the development of navigational equipment is a very
science-intensive task, requiring great financial expenditures,
commercial organizations were also invited to the conference. One of
them, "Tranzas marin," has already concluded a contract with NINGI.
8. Now the institute is faced with a global task: creation of a
federal radio-navigation plane for Russia which combines all
information on navigation, marine as well as air and ground
navigation. One hopes that by uniting its efforts with other civilian
and military institutes, NINGI will successfully accomplish this
task.