Editing OKB (section)

{{Short description|Type of closed research institutions in the Soviet Union}}
{{Other uses|OKB (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Sukhoi-okb.JPG | thumb|Sukhoi Company (JSC) head office/Sukhoi OKB]]
'''OKB''' ({{langx|ru|ОКБ}}) is a transliteration of the Russian initials for "{{lang|ru|Опытно-Конструкторское Бюро}}" ({{Transliteration|ru|Opytno-Konstruktorskoye Byuro}}), which translates to "Experimental Design Bureau." It could also mean {{Transliteration|ru|Osoboye konstruktorskoye byuro}} or "Special Design Bureau" in english.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Boris |first1=Chertok |title=Rockets and people Volume 1 |date=January 2005 |publisher=NASA History Office |location=Washington, DC |isbn=978-1484842676 |page=20 |url=https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/635675main_rocketspeoplevolume1-ebook.pdf?emrc=3b9dce |access-date=9 May 2025 |ref=1}}</ref> During the [[Soviet Union|Soviet era]], OKBs were closed institutions working on design and prototyping of [[High tech|advanced technology]], usually for [[Military technology|military applications]]. The corresponding English language term for such a bureau's activity is R&D or "[[research and development]]."

For security, each bureau was only officially identified by a number, but were often semi-officially referenced by the name of its lead designer. For example, OKB-51 was led by [[Pavel Sukhoi]], and it eventually became known as simply [[Sukhoi]]. Successful and famous bureaus often retained these names after the departure of their founding designer.

These relatively small [[State-owned enterprises of Russia|state-run organisations]] were not intended for [[mass production]] of aircraft, rockets, or other vehicles or equipment which they designed. However, they usually had the facilities and resources to construct prototypes. Designs accepted by the state were then assigned to factories for mass production.

After the [[collapse of the Soviet Union]], many OKBs became [[Scientific Production Association]]s (NPOs). There were some attempts to merge them in the 1990s, and there were widespread amalgamations in 2001–2006 to create "[[national champions|national champion]]" corporations, such as [[Almaz-Antey Corporation|Almaz-Antey]] to consolidate [[surface-to-air missile]] development.