Overview
- The death was announced by Sarov mayor Alexey Safonov on Telegram and reported by TASS and RIA Novosti.
- Ilkaev spent his career at RFNC‑VNIIEF from 1961, serving as director from 1996 to 2008 and as scientific director from 2008 to 2016 before becoming honorary scientific director in 2017.
- His research spanned the creation of new nuclear and thermonuclear charges, strengthened safety measures for warheads and munitions, and advanced modeling of processes under extreme conditions.
- Under his guidance, specialists developed the Iskra‑6 concept based on the petawatt‑level Luch laser for high‑energy experiments.
- He was a Russian Academy of Sciences academician and a full cavalier of the Order “For Merit to the Fatherland,” and officials hailed his contributions as crucial to national defense, with no cause of death disclosed.