Artem Ivanovich Mikoyan (August 5, 1905 in Sanahin, Armenia - December 9, 1970) was a Soviet aircraft designer, in partnership with Mikhail Gourevich, MiG.
After having been a lathe worker in Rostov-on-the-Don he was conscripted. After his military service he entered the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy, graduating in 1937. He cooperated with Polikarpov before being appointed head of the new design office in Moscow in December 1939. Together with Mikhail Gourevitch he created a desk to design a series of fighters. In March 1942 the bureau was renamed OKB MiG (Osoboye Konstruktorskoye Buro), ANPK MiG (Aviatsionnyy nauchno-proizvodstvennyy kompleks) and OKO MiG. The MiG-1 was not a very good start, the MiG-3 did not find its niche and the following were research prototypes.
The 1946 MiG-9 appeared immediately after the war, based on captured German jets, and information provided by Britain and the United States. Then the prototype I-270 became the MiG-15 of which 15,000 copies were built. From 1952 Artem Mikoyan also designed the missile systems intended to be adapted to his planes. It continued to produce high performance fighters throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
He twice received the highest civil honor, the decoration of hero of socialist labor, and was a deputy in six supreme soviets. His older brother Anastasius was a Soviet politician.
After Mikoyan's death the name of the design office was changed from Mikoyan-Gurevich to simply Mikoyan. However the designation remained MiG.