28 May 2021

It can be odd working with some defence companies. I sat through a 
presentation from a company who make missile actuation systems. It is 
terrible in what it will be used for and yet thoroughly interesting 
with the technical challenge. I have often found myself conflicted 
with such notions. The Phalanx system is positively mad. It is a self 
defence system for the final mile or so around a ship and designed to 
take out missiles. It fires a stupid amount of rounds while tracking 8 
cricket ball sized objects at a time. It is a mad feat of engineering 
capability but for destruction only. This system has fascinated me 
for a long time. It is modular and so can be 'dropped in' to a 
platform. The intelligence to identify objects, track them and 
predict where to aim is crazy really. Yet... it should not be so 
interesting really. It is there to destroy. This is the inherent 
difficulty of defence work really. You cannot forget what the purpose 
is. The meeting was also interesting comparing the design approach to 
fundamentally the same aerospace environment between something 
designed to work perfectly once and the sort of things I work on 
where it has to last 20 odd years. 

We had a monthly team meeting where the team can share successes and 
we have a bit of fun. I ran a quiz about German 60s, 70s and 80s band 
names with a few fake ones in there. It was nice and silly. However, I 
could not beat the bingo. It is a little surreal having 30 engineers 
playing bingo together over the internet but it is deadly serious. The 
moaning from people who have not had a number called out! The silly 
side of it all is important and it seems to be helping us all feel 
like a team. Even if it is to suffer my dodgy quizes as a group!