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Weapons Engineering
How easy is it to break into? What companies can I work for? Whats the best engineering degree I can do to get into weapons engineering? Any other information?
Thanks
Thanks
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You'll probably need to do tech engineering and then specialise in some sort of field..... but honestly i dont get why you'll spend your life making weapons that might kill people like you, especailly as the people that you work for wont consult about which people they will kill.
As far as I know, there is no field of 'Weapons Engineering'. In general the Electrical, Mechanical and Chemical fields of Engineering are good sectors to work in if that is your aspiration.
That said the entire field seems to be fairly murky, I know of people that are involved in missile guidance for example with companies that may well be better known for more peaceful products. Perhaps physics would be a good field to enter if you have the mind to turning theory into practical application. Always remember ethics though, a literal minefield!
That said the entire field seems to be fairly murky, I know of people that are involved in missile guidance for example with companies that may well be better known for more peaceful products. Perhaps physics would be a good field to enter if you have the mind to turning theory into practical application. Always remember ethics though, a literal minefield!
Weapon Engineering
heres another job
Click here
And another
click here
heres another job
Click here
And another
click here
MBDA are a company that develop missile systems. I considered applying to them purely for technical interest. But then I received another offer, so I ditched them. But if you can seperate the ethics of what you might be doing then I don't see why not, they'll only recruit someone else who may just have a sinister mind.
MBDA
http://www.mbda.net/site/FO/scripts/siteFO_accueil.php
MBDA
http://www.mbda.net/site/FO/scripts/siteFO_accueil.php
Not really weapons engineering but some funky defence/topsecret-related stuff....
http://www.qinetiq.com (if you wanna work in Malvern)
http://www.roke.co.uk/ (if you wanna work by southampton)
not top-secret enough for you?
http://www.dstl.gov.uk/
Also the other companies like BAE Systems etc.
http://www.qinetiq.com (if you wanna work in Malvern)
http://www.roke.co.uk/ (if you wanna work by southampton)
not top-secret enough for you?
http://www.dstl.gov.uk/
Also the other companies like BAE Systems etc.
I dont get it, why would you want to devote your life towards creating "stuffs" that have no other purpose than to kill you, me and other fellow beings. Whatever your reason, the weapons you create will ultimately end up in "evil hands" that kill innocent peoples...you woudn't do this if you love your family!
Hello,
OP, I've worked in weapons engineering, check your PMs a message on your way soon.
To the others questioning the integrity and morals of such a job, its a necessary evil. Weapons keep the peace rather than destroy it, people are more likely to back off if they find they are under threat. I never thought I was doing something immoral, the country that is getting bombed is to blame for putting itself in that position and missiles aren't built or launched with the intention of killing innocent people and its only with fine engineers that we can improve their accuracy and performance so we make sure that only the right people/targets are destroyed when it comes to it. I'm all for diplomacy, but when it doesn't work then bombing the **** of them is the only language they understand. The way I see is, I'm trying to protect my country by working for defence organisations, if militants can protect theirs by flying planes into buildings and doing suicide bombs and killing thousands then why can't I use my skills to protect ourselves? Funny how there are so many tree huggers who managed to protest outside the place I worked to stop missile manufacturing but none were to be seen protesting against Iran when they insist on building a nuclear weapon, the hypocricy makes me laugh.
OP, I've worked in weapons engineering, check your PMs a message on your way soon.
To the others questioning the integrity and morals of such a job, its a necessary evil. Weapons keep the peace rather than destroy it, people are more likely to back off if they find they are under threat. I never thought I was doing something immoral, the country that is getting bombed is to blame for putting itself in that position and missiles aren't built or launched with the intention of killing innocent people and its only with fine engineers that we can improve their accuracy and performance so we make sure that only the right people/targets are destroyed when it comes to it. I'm all for diplomacy, but when it doesn't work then bombing the **** of them is the only language they understand. The way I see is, I'm trying to protect my country by working for defence organisations, if militants can protect theirs by flying planes into buildings and doing suicide bombs and killing thousands then why can't I use my skills to protect ourselves? Funny how there are so many tree huggers who managed to protest outside the place I worked to stop missile manufacturing but none were to be seen protesting against Iran when they insist on building a nuclear weapon, the hypocricy makes me laugh.
Philosopher
I dont get it, why would you want to devote your life towards creating "stuffs" that have no other purpose than to kill you, me and other fellow beings.
How did you come to the conclusion that the engineering involved in weapons is driven towards taking life only? A lot of the important technologies that have subsequently ended up benefiting humans have come from weapons engineering and war stimulus. Look at the gun, the next time you're in a hospital with a broken leg realise that the operation was only developed in response to the gun, and I might add, a LOT more people have benefited from surgical advances that those that have died at the end of a barrel of a gun. Please don't be so short sighted, you'll need to consider the wider picture, especially if you're to be successful in your engineering place at MIT.
Whatever your reason, the weapons you create will ultimately end up in "evil hands" that kill innocent peoples...
No they don't. Again, weapons aren't launched with the intention of killing innocent people, the fact that they do is an unfortunate reality of using them but its precisely the reason the industry needs more people to impove such technologies. Shoudln't you be blaming those cowardice militants who hide themselves between women and children and use them as cover to operate their illegal and suicidal missions? They are the ones responsible for innocent deaths.
you woudn't do this if you love your family!
What's it got to do with loving your family?! Now you're just resorting to underhand tactics to force the OP off considering a career in the defence industry. Your opinons are your opinons, but its a rather unfair statement you make there. I love my family to bits, does that mean I can't have a career in the defence industry and vice versa? Certainly not!
Ok you PM is off, anyway to go into weapons, there isn't a particular disciplline which is overly prefferred. Depends on what type of weapons also. I worked at MBDA, they purely design and manufacture missiles. In this case, aero, mech, electronic, chemical and stuctural engineering are all considered useful. Depends also on which part of the system you want to work in, explosives/payload, delivery systems, navigation etc etc. I actually was on the general engineering course at Cambridge when I did my placement with MBDA, and they seem to like general engineers as you have the ability to draw together different aspects of engineering for a particular product and these are the people who generally make it to the coveted project management positions.
The job is not as glamourous as it seems at first as the systems you are developing are extremely secretive so at the early stage of your career you won't be exposed to a lot of the exciting things. However, as you start rising up you will get more responsibility and your level of security clearance will rise and so you will be privy to a lot of top secret material, though sadly you need to keep it all to yourself.
As an engineer, it can be fun as you will be given the best tools, instruments and systems to play with and have a lot of job security with pay rising fast. There is a programme of constant training and so you keep learning new things and opportunity to travel over Europe as the major weapons systems these days are being developed in collaboration by the big EU states (UK, France, Italy, Spain and Germany mostly). There are excellent exit opportunities as I heard of people at my work place who went on to do an MBA and then were easily snapped up by investment banks and other financial institutions and getting paid very large sums of money. So you leave your career very open.
So my advise: go to the top unis for engineering, these are Cambridge, Imperial, Southampton, Nottingham, Loughborough, Bristol, Bath, Brunel and a few others. Do a course you like, and if you're finding it hard to decide, mechanical engineering is a no brainer because that will get you into any engineering job. Whilst at uni, you can apply for internship positions at the defence companies, a lot of them have structured internship/graduate programmes. MBDA, DSTL, BAe, Thales, Raytheon..the list is big. Its not particularly too difficult to break into, as its glamour would suggest, get a 2.1 or above and a good reference and some good practical experiences and you should be fine.
The job is not as glamourous as it seems at first as the systems you are developing are extremely secretive so at the early stage of your career you won't be exposed to a lot of the exciting things. However, as you start rising up you will get more responsibility and your level of security clearance will rise and so you will be privy to a lot of top secret material, though sadly you need to keep it all to yourself.
As an engineer, it can be fun as you will be given the best tools, instruments and systems to play with and have a lot of job security with pay rising fast. There is a programme of constant training and so you keep learning new things and opportunity to travel over Europe as the major weapons systems these days are being developed in collaboration by the big EU states (UK, France, Italy, Spain and Germany mostly). There are excellent exit opportunities as I heard of people at my work place who went on to do an MBA and then were easily snapped up by investment banks and other financial institutions and getting paid very large sums of money. So you leave your career very open.
So my advise: go to the top unis for engineering, these are Cambridge, Imperial, Southampton, Nottingham, Loughborough, Bristol, Bath, Brunel and a few others. Do a course you like, and if you're finding it hard to decide, mechanical engineering is a no brainer because that will get you into any engineering job. Whilst at uni, you can apply for internship positions at the defence companies, a lot of them have structured internship/graduate programmes. MBDA, DSTL, BAe, Thales, Raytheon..the list is big. Its not particularly too difficult to break into, as its glamour would suggest, get a 2.1 or above and a good reference and some good practical experiences and you should be fine.
LBC213
How did you come to the conclusion that the engineering involved in weapons is driven towards taking life only? A lot of the important technologies that have subsequently ended up benefiting humans have come from weapons engineering and war stimulus. Look at the gun, the next time you're in a hospital with a broken leg realise that the operation was only developed in response to the gun, and I might add, a LOT more people have benefited from surgical advances that those that have died at the end of a barrel of a gun. Please don't be so short sighted, you'll need to consider the wider picture, especially if you're to be successful in your engineering place at MIT.
Yes! Weapons can only kill! So you say there wudnt be any surgical advances without wars right? Dude, that's pretty lame. Surgical advances would have occured sooner or later, and all the current research going on to improve surgical measures are not any preparations for future wars, but rather to save the millions and millions of human lives that are lost each year to the deadly diseases that pose serious threat to human survival. Well, wars accelerate technological researches, thats true, but only to help soldiers survive and fight better, and it affects the general public much later. If you ask my opinion, I would say I DONT WANT YET ANOTHER DEVASTATING MASS MURDURING WAR, EVEN IF IT ACCELERATES ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY which would still be occuring even if much later.
LBC213
No they don't. Again, weapons aren't launched with the intention of killing innocent people, the fact that they do is an unfortunate reality of using them but its precisely the reason the industry needs more people to impove such technologies. Shoudln't you be blaming those cowardice militants who hide themselves between women and children and use them as cover to operate their illegal and suicidal missions? They are the ones responsible for innocent deaths.
You didnt get my point my friend...the "cowardice militants" you're talkin abt are evil right? And they have weapons in their hand right? So weapons ultimately do end up in evil hands! You see my point? You cant really do anything against it, there are bad ppl in every nation & every society, so these bad ppl will always have access to weapons made by you, and neither can I do anything against than not to create these wepaons at all in the first place, because there will always be s.o.b.'s like bush and laden, and if they die, nothing to worry abt, there will be many other evil ppl to play with your weapons for their own advantage. I am against terror, just like you, but not in favour of Bush's "war against terror" which itself is a terror, a real good example of mass homicide!
LBC213
What's it got to do with loving your family?! Now you're just resorting to underhand tactics to force the OP off considering a career in the defence industry. Your opinons are your opinons, but its a rather unfair statement you make there. I love my family to bits, does that mean I can't have a career in the defence industry and vice versa? Certainly not!
You still didnt get it...what I meant is, these "weapons" serve no other objectives than to kill people, both good and bad, who are beloved family members of some human families, families like ours, so if you love your family you wudnt create weapons that destroy other families! Don't worry abt the defence industry, there will ALWAYS be more than enough ppl to fill in positions like you have, there will always be wars and (consequently) armed forces (legal terrorists) and other militant groups (illegal terrorists - freedom fighters, mafias and "puppets/hypocrites created by governments, seemingly against the state, working towards political gains for the government by destructive activities"), so I would rather stay away from supplying them with weapons. I dont know abt you, but at least I dont have the heart to kill anyone, directly or indirectly. As for the "Iran" thing you said, both America (the first and only country to use nuclear weapons in real!) and Iran and all other countries MUST ABOLISH and destroy nuclear weapons, no matter what their reason is, **** those damn baseless "security reasons"!
Philosopher
Yes! Weapons can only kill! So you say there wudnt be any surgical advances without wars right? Dude, that's pretty lame. Surgical advances would have occured sooner or later, and all the current research going on to improve surgical measures are not any preparations for future wars, but rather to save the millions and millions of human lives that are lost each year to the deadly diseases that pose serious threat to human survival.
60,000 nuclear weapons were at some point held in stockpiles between the Russians and Americans, yet no nuclear holocaust occured. Why? Because both sides had these weapons, if one didn't the other would quite easily have held the other by the balls or bombed the **** out of themselves and the rest of the world, which nearly happened may I add in the Cuban standoff. The fact that both the sides had these weapons meant there was no destructive war, it kept the peace. I didn't say that without war, medical/surgical advances wouldn't have taken place, all I'm stating is an observation; that war did pretty much invent modern medicine. That got the ball rolling, now we see medical developments in peace time, not just in war because society demands these things now, hence the government rightly pours billions into health and research.
Well, wars accelerate technological researches, thats true, but only to help soldiers survive and fight better, and it affects the general public much later. If you ask my opinion, I would say I DONT WANT YET ANOTHER DEVASTATING MASS MURDURING WAR, EVEN IF IT ACCELERATES ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY which would still be occuring even if much later.
Yes at the time of wars it aids the military, but after the wars it ends up as civilian technology and helps aid society and civilisation and saves lives. I'm in no way saying that war SHOULD happen just to accelerate technology, but that it does and that many times the lives lost because of destructive technology are usually made up for in the saving of lives after and the benefits to society.
You didnt get my point my friend...the "cowardice militants" you're talkin abt are evil right? And they have weapons in their hand right? So weapons ultimately do end up in evil hands!
Not these days it doesn't no. The technology is very closely protected and far too advanced to replicate by anyone outside the lab. "Primitive" technology like guns can easily be replicated and the international weapons trade is far more constricted now then it probably has been every before.
You see my point? You cant really do anything against it, there are bad ppl in every nation & every society, so these bad ppl will always have access to weapons made by you, and neither can I do anything against than not to create these wepaons at all in the first place, because there will always be s.o.b.'s like bush and laden, and if they die, nothing to worry abt, there will be many other evil ppl to play with your weapons for their own advantage. I am against terror, just like you, but not in favour of Bush's "war against terror" which itself is a terror, a real good example of mass homicide!
Yes, I don't want to get involved in the politics of it, but you can't blame engineers who work on these weapons for the strategic and political agendas of politicians who ultimately control the weapons use. You can't "uninvent" technology, it's there.
You still didnt get it...what I meant is, these "weapons" serve no other objectives than to kill people, both good and bad, who are beloved family members of some human families, families like ours, so if you love your family you wudnt create weapons that destroy other families!
But your exact misunderstanding of the situation is that weapons are built to kill innocent, or used with such an intention when they're not. They are built to protect and they're built to kill those that have it coming to them, its a shame innocent do get killed but its only a big deal because innocent people dying from weapons is SUCH a rare occurence that the media use and hype it up to increase exposure, so whenever it happens you hear about it and its a big deal, and it seems like a regular occurence to you yet it isn't.
Don't worry abt the defence industry, there will ALWAYS be more than enough ppl to fill in positions like you have, there will always be wars and (consequently) armed forces (legal terrorists) and other militant groups (illegal terrorists - freedom fighters, mafias and "puppets/hypocrites created by governments, seemingly against the state, working towards political gains for the government by destructive activities"), so I would rather stay away from supplying them with weapons. I dont know abt you, but at least I dont have the heart to kill anyone, directly or indirectly. As for the "Iran" thing you said, both America (the first and only country to use nuclear weapons in real!) and Iran and all other countries MUST ABOLISH and destroy nuclear weapons, no matter what their reason is, **** those damn baseless "security reasons"!
Again, you can't uninvent technology, your proposal seems fair yes but it's just not going to happen. And who is to say that there are those that will pretend to destroy but won't stash some in a secret place "just in case". I don't want to kill anyone innocent, and certainly thats not the aim where I work, and of my colleagues either. There is no supply to "illegal terrorists", the supply they have now is the stupidity of the Americans who trained and supplied them, but thats political agendas at work, not engineering ones. You can't bring down a profession on what is basically the mistakes and wrongs of the politicans, you should learn to seperate the two.
Ah I'm sick of these big posts, sry cant waste time reading that whole thing, just read the first para, and my message for your wrong idea abt modern surgery is --> surgical practice is not sth new, even ancient egyptians had their own surgical methods, but "modern surgery" as we know it today, didn't just result from one particular event but took its shape from the works of arab physicians before european renaissance and then european physicians after the renaissance, the condition of human lives back then wasnt like it is today, deaths from injuries and diseases were thousand times more than it is now, and to alleviate this grim condition, ppl like harvey (he wasnt there during a wartime) and morton (neither was he) and many more deciated their lives for medical advances and revolutionized the field.
And abt your last para --> the point is, maybe you dont wanna kill innocents, and most engineers dont have that in mind as well, but still, whether done by politicians are other criminals, one day or another (be it after 5, 10 or even 75 years) it is imminent someone with evil intentions will get hold of your weapons, so that gives the wepaon creator a small part of the credit of those evil deeds even if he didnt intend to cause such acts.
Dont take my words hard, but you'll always have your reasons (as shown in the other para's and some more in your mind
) becuz you really enjoy making weapons, and I will have mine becuz it shudnt be there in an "ideal world" for human survival, but we may never reach this ideal world becuz "evil" (the temptation to do other's bad) is an indestructible phenomenon that creeps on human minds, so I'll rather stay as far away possible from creating/using these "killing machines". I respect your views, but I'll stick to mines, and its rather useless enforcing our views on each other like this, so lets stop it right here --> Full Stop
And abt your last para --> the point is, maybe you dont wanna kill innocents, and most engineers dont have that in mind as well, but still, whether done by politicians are other criminals, one day or another (be it after 5, 10 or even 75 years) it is imminent someone with evil intentions will get hold of your weapons, so that gives the wepaon creator a small part of the credit of those evil deeds even if he didnt intend to cause such acts.
Dont take my words hard, but you'll always have your reasons (as shown in the other para's and some more in your mind
) becuz you really enjoy making weapons, and I will have mine becuz it shudnt be there in an "ideal world" for human survival, but we may never reach this ideal world becuz "evil" (the temptation to do other's bad) is an indestructible phenomenon that creeps on human minds, so I'll rather stay as far away possible from creating/using these "killing machines". I respect your views, but I'll stick to mines, and its rather useless enforcing our views on each other like this, so lets stop it right here --> Full StopPhilosopher
so lets stop it right here --> Full Stop
Yep, gonna have to agree to disagree.
qmblix
I'll second that, keep your comments to the point, direct and concise. It's good Engineering practice :P.
Any wiff-waffle, book a room.
Any wiff-waffle, book a room.
I'm not an engineer anymore, and the subject of the thread was always going to draw a debate, which an engineer needs to be able to do anytime too, considering the long board meetings you'll be in to make decisions on product specifications. I've sat through meeting deciding on minor electronic specifications of a product which lasted the whole afternoon and debate and detail was very much part of that.
But fair enough, the moral discussion is over.Great post I was thinking of going down the military development area but could never really find any useful advice on it.
Just to let you know BAE systems dont do weapons from what i understand (spent a month there). Key word being Systems they implement what other companies make. QQ might be worth a look at.
Just to let you know BAE systems dont do weapons from what i understand (spent a month there). Key word being Systems they implement what other companies make. QQ might be worth a look at.
Walker
Just to let you know BAE systems dont do weapons
Just to let you know BAE systems dont do weapons
They do. My 'best' friend works for them in weapons (explosives).
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