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Asked by THE GINGER BANTER to Matthew, Neil, Paula, Pete, Philippa on 10 Mar 2015.
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Neil Taylor answered on 10 Mar 2015:
Hi!
Part of my first year at university involved some group design work. The task was to design a medieval siege-weapon called a Trebuchet. It was kind of like a huge catapult that launched rocks at walls and buildings – it’s worth a look on google! This was lot of fun, and taught us about levers, moments, materials selection and other concepts of engineering – as well as how to work/communicate in a group. We never actually made them, of course!
In terms of modern day weapons, though – no, I haven’t. I don’t really see myself ever designing one to be honest. I’d prefer to focus my engineering energy on positive, constructive things – and I don’t believe weapons are one of them.
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Pete Symons answered on 10 Mar 2015:
I have been involved in auditing (from a safety perspective) the team designing the Spearfish Torpedo
My role was pretty unspectacular (but necessary) which was to ensure the team were applying the correct procedures to assure the MOD senior management that the end product would be safe (for the people firing it and any bystanders!).
Probably more interesting is the work I will be doing on the A400M to ensure the safe design of the Defensive Aid Suite, to protect against missiles (see YouTube vid below, it’s pretty cool). The video shows the development aircraft which is a test bed for showing of capability, each nation that has an A400M might choose to do Defensive Aid slightly differently so might need a slightly different flare and explosive cocktail design that you see here
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Philippa Jefferis answered on 10 Mar 2015:
I personally wouldn’t want to be involved in the design weapons. I wanted to be an engineer to help people.
Alfred Nobel – who developed the Nobel Peace Prize – did so because he didn’t want to only be remembered for being the inventor of dynamite.
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