The present volume deals with variational methods for the optimization of motion of aircraft and other objects often encountered in modern technology. The development of aeronautics and astronautics progres­ sively focuses ever increasing attention on the determination of optimum flight programs characterized by minimum time, minimum fuel consumption, maximum range, minimum cost, etc. Numerous publications which appeared in the USSR and in the West during the last 20—25 years deal with various aspects of this optimization problem. The leading contributions were made by I. V. Ostoslavskii, D. E. Okhotsimskii, A. A. Kosmodem' yanskii, and A. Miele. Their work played an important role in the development of controlled flight mechanics; they were also the first to come face to face with the fundamental difficulties that to this date plague us in the*solution of modern optimal problems. These difficulties are a result of the complexand varied conditions that must be taken into consideration when formulating and solving the various problems.The monograph presents a systematic review of the authors' results obtained over a number of years.The Supplement at the end of the book is fundamentally different from the earlier chapters. It will be of interest to readers who wish to acquaint themselves with the basic problems of variational calculus and with the fundamental ideas that served as a point of departure for this monograph. The Supplement also contains a useful solution of the problem of maximum-range horizontal flight of an aircraft.(Novye metody variatsionnogo ischisleniya v dinamike poleta)Izdatel'stvo "Mashinostroenie" Moskva 1969