We can’t shoot down Missiles with a water pistol
Recently, I have often asked myself, why is it so difficult to recruit engineers for the defence sector in the UK during these challenging times, with global conflict in Ukraine and the Middle east. History seems to have been forgotten, and we are making the same mistakes that resulted in the second world war, with appeasement and bargaining our way to a larger scale conflict.
Alongside this, we seem to have a different culture to that of our elderly relations, who fought in World War 2, Korea, The Falklands, and more recently two Gulf Wars and the War on Terror.
Have we also forgotten that some of our Grandmothers worked in munitions factories and aircraft factories during World War 2?
Have we lost a sense of doing what we can to protect our loved one’s and our armed forces personnel, who are carrying out the dangerous work they do to protect us on a daily basis?
If you watched last night’s episode of “Top Guns - Inside the RAF,” you would have seen that a UK surveillance aircraft and two RAF escort fighters were threatened over the black sea by Russia, in international airspace approaching the Crimea border. They sent a fighter aircraft to intercept them, and performed an aggressive manoeuvre that could have resulted in a hostile act being performed against one of the RAF Typhoons. A Typhoon has a highly trained pilot, who put themselves in harms way to make sure we are protected on a daily basis. This could be to make sure we have collected intelligence that could thwart a direct threat to the UK and Nato, or protect shipping from attack, making sure that our goods and services are not interrupted. Do these brave people not deserve to be looked after by having access to the weapons and technology that can protect them?
What would happen if an adversary were to attack us like Iran attacked Israel? Answer; There would be devastation across UK towns and cities, much like Gaza and Ukraine. We do not have the defensive systems in place any longer to repel an attack like that. This is due to our defence budget being cut after the cold war, and poor decisions being made by successive governments.
Imagine, a state actor declares war on the UK. In it’s simplest terms; A missile is targeted at a housing estate in Central London. Your Parents, Grandparents or someone else you love and care for live on that estate. What would you do? Fire a water pistol at the missile, and hopes it goes out? It’s not going to happen, and next time it may be someone you care about.
Imagine if we couldn’t get hold of our food, produce, tech products and our fuel? We don’t make enough in the UK, and rely on importing vast amounts from overseas. These products come via sea lanes, most notably the Gulf of Oman, Suez Canal and South China Sea. All of these routes have their challenges, such as threats from piracy, Iranian backed rebels and state actors. This cargo needs protecting by our military and our allies. We need to make sure they have the technology and weaponry to protect themselves. Do they not deserve protection? They put themselves at risk every day for us!
This is where you can come in, and really make a difference
Our highly qualified and trained engineers, physicist and scientists have a duty to look at the bigger picture here. We can’t just sit on the fence, and expect the world’s problems to go away. Those problems have been there since before the bible was written. There will always be conflict, but as an engineer or scientist, you can play your part in protecting our service personnel and loved one’s from an attack that could be just round the corner.
This threat is real, and requires the talents of all those who have had the privilege of gaining a degree in a STEM subject. The defence sector is awash with great opportunities, great companies, interesting projects, and exciting technology such as AI and Machine Learning. But the difference between defence and the great work that scientists do in say the medical devices industry, is that by working in the defence sector, you may be helping to protect the people you love, our way of life, and our freedom, so that we can have a deterrent that stops anyone from attacking the UK. That saves lives!!
HUMAN TOUCH | RELATIONSHIP | PASSION | KNOWLEDGE | INTEREST | INTEGRITY