Career
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Simonov coordinated the Su-27"s sale to foreign governments, providing badly needed hard currency to the Russian government. Simonov was born 19 October 1929 in Rostov-on-Don. He became an aviation engineer in the 1950s and joined Sukhoi as a deputy chief designer in 1970.
In his time at Sukhoi, he developed the Sukhoi Su-24 bomber and the Sukhoi Su-25 ground-attack airplane, as well as the Su-27.
He was the Soviet Union"s deputy minister of aircraft industries from 1979 to 1983.