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• Aeronautical systems engineer: Daniel

Aeronautical systems engineer: Daniel

This Case Study belongs to Aeronautical engineer.

I work for a US-owned, multinational defence company as an aeronautical systems engineer. The company is made up of 12 separate business groups. Working on large defence programmes involving capabilities and technologies across the corporation creates a challenging working environment, crossing different cultures, working practices and time zones. My business group’s customer base is primarily the UK Ministry of Defence. However, I have been involved in and led European and Asian projects and bids.

Although I have only been with the company for three years, I have developed my skills and competencies well beyond those I gained at university. Specifically, systems engineering on complex military aircraft projects requires a robust and logical approach, as well as the use of the latest associated software tools and applications. I am required to capture the customer’s goals, objectives and capabilities required for a military system, such as an aircraft, operating in a state-of-the-art, network-enabled environment. I am hugely reliant on ex-military subject matter experts to achieve this. We draw on expertise from both the customer and our company for advice on military concepts and doctrine. Having established the high-level facets of capability, I have to drive down to user and system-level requirements that are singular, measurable and traceable back to the high-level capabilities, objectives and goals. This approach ensures that what is ultimately procured or acquired meets the customer’s needs in terms of performance, cost and time. As well as these ‘hard skills’, I am required to develop softer skills, such as high standards of oral and written communication, project management and leadership.

Presently, I am working on a highly classified future UK military requirement and manage a small but highly qualified and appropriately cleared team of six members from within and outside the company. This consortia approach to military, high-value contracts is now commonplace, as no single company is likely to have all the necessary capabilities and technologies to deliver cost and operationally-effective system-of-system solutions. Purely, delivering an aircraft with the necessary performance and fire power, as would have been the case 20 years ago, has been replaced with delivering an integrated and interoperable platform fit for Joint (Land, Sea and Air) and multinational (Allied and coalition) operations.

Case Study sourced by Helen Reed of The Nottingham Trent University, 13 June 2008.