Aircraft designer Yuri Ivashechkin. Biography

Yuri Ivashechkin was born on December 6, 1933 in Novosibirsk. He spent his entire childhood and youth in the gold mining villages of Altai. After graduating from high school in 1951, he entered the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI). He has come a long way from a graduate of MAI to a famous Soviet and Russian aircraft designer.

The legendary aircraft designer began his professional career in 1957 at the Scientific Research Experimental Institute of Parachute Equipment (NIE PDS)— now the Scientific Research Institute of Parachute Engineering. It is the only leading developer of parachute systems in Russia, where they not only develop parachutes of all types, but also conduct flight tests. While working there, Ivashechkin created a parachute for the supersonic bomber T-4.

In the early 1960s, Ivashechkin got a job at the Sukhoi Experimental Design Bureau (Sukhoi Design Bureau), the Sukhoi Design Bureau. It was here that he began work on the Su-25 ("Grach") attack aircraft, designed to support ground forces and destroy objects with specified coordinates. Under the guidance of a specialist, all the main stages were carried out — from the development of the concept to the construction of prototypes. Later, Ivashechkin personally participated in the tests of an attack aircraft in combat operations in Afghanistan.

The aircraft was developed in the 1970s and was produced until the collapse of the USSR. In Russia, its production in the latest versions was resumed in 2009. Currently, various versions of the Su-25 are in service with the Aerospace Forces of Russia and other countries - Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Angola, North Korea and Iraq.

From 1980 to 1985, the creator of the Su-25 held the position of chief designer, also participating in the development of the Su-9, Su-15 interceptor fighters, and the T-4 reconnaissance bomber. Since 1985, he joined the Mikoyan Design Bureau, and since the early 2000s, he began working at Civil Aviation Corporation. Sukhoi Aircraft as the chief designer of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ-100), the first passenger aircraft built in Russia after the collapse of the USSR and fully designed based on digital technologies.

The aircraft made its first flight in May 2008. A year later, the device was presented at the international aviation exhibition in Le Bourget (France). Since 2011, aircraft have been delivered to Russian airlines. Today, they are available, in particular, in the fleet of Aeroflot and Gazprom Avia.

For his success in developing domestic aircraft, Ivashechkin was awarded the USSR State Prize, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and the Badge of Honor.

At the end of 2024, Yuri Ivashechkin celebrated his 90th birthday. Less than a year later, he was gone. The death of the aircraft designer was announced on September 3, 2025 by the press service of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC, part of Rostec). The organization expressed its condolences to his family and friends, noting his personal and professional achievements.

The cause of death is not specified. Nothing is known about Yuri Ivashechkin's personal life either. There is no information about his wife and children in open sources.