Results of the Development of the Soviet Optical-mechanical Industry Plants in the Beginning of the Second Five-Year Plan

The article reveals the main trends in the development of the optical-mechanical industry of the USSR in the beginning of the Second Five-Year Plan, pays attention to the achievements and problems that took place in this sector of the national economy. By the end of the First Five-Year Plan, the Soviet optical-mechanical industry was completing the stage of its formation, received its organizational structure and formed a material and technical base. Its development occurred at an accelerated pace, in conditions of mobilization and command management methods. This led to deficiencies in technical planning, provision of raw materials, equipment and personnel. As a result, the products of the USSR’s optical-mechanical industry at the end of the First Five-Year Plan were inferior to similar foreign ones in terms of their cost and a number of performance qualities. The experience gained in the development of the industry allowed by the mid-1930s. avoid massive imports of optical instruments for civil and military purposes from abroad and created the basis for further improvement of optical technologies in the USSR.