Viktor Makeyev; Leading Soviet Missile Designer

MOSCOW — Viktor P. Makeyev, a member of the Communist Party’s Central Committee and a leading designer of strategic missiles, is dead at 61.

The Communist Party newspaper Pravda reported this week that he died Friday, but the paper did not report the cause of death.

In an obituary signed by Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev and all members of the Politburo, Makeyev was praised as an “outstanding scientist in the area of the mechanics of flying machines, doing much to strengthen the defense of the country.”

His obituary was signed by senior officials in the Defense Ministry, the KGB and ministries connected with the defense industry, including the construction of advanced missiles.

Makeyev, a native of Moscow, began work at age 15 in an aviation plant as a draftsman and constructor, the obituary said.

He graduated from Moscow’s aviation institute in 1948 and, after working as an engineer, worked from 1955 in an unnamed organization as chief engineer, rising to become chief builder and head of the enterprise in 1977.

The organization was not named in the obituary, suggesting that Makeyev worked in the secretive world of Soviet defense. He also was lauded for his development of important forms of new technology, an indication that he pioneered defense research.