*** *** THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2009*** ***The Daily TelegraphOUTSOURCING CAREERS IN DEFENCE| VIIWhether it’s training aircrew, providing a communications system to serve the Royal Navy fleet or building short take-off, vertical landing F-35s to replace the Harriers, virtually every kind of behind-the-scenes military activity can be — and is — outsourced to private enterprise. Sodexho Defence, for example, has been supplying support services to the Ministry of Defence for more than 20 years. It runs catering, cleaning, transport, grounds maintenance, water purification, facilities management and fire services in the UK, Cyprus, the Falklands and the Ascension Islands. Every year it serves two million cups of coffee and five million meals to service men and women. Lockheed Martin UK (LMUK) is the prime contractor delivering Merlin, the Royal Navy’s state-ofthe-art multi-role, multi-mission helicopter system, providing antisubmarine and anti-surface warfare capability. It is also behind WECDIS, the Warship Electronic Chart Display and Information System which links to 25 different ships’ systems, such as navigation and tracking radars, depth sounders, compasses, ships’ logs and GPS receivers. “Things have moved a long way from the days when everything the MoD did was inhouse,” explains an LMUK spokesperson. “From the Government’s point of view, SMART procurement means getting value for money and key capabilities from outsourcing. From our perspective it means that innovation, research and development are absolutely key.” Outsourcing has brought other benefits to the military. Most obviously it frees up frontline personnel to work on what they do best. It also raises standards, according to Jo Robbins, HR Director at VT Group, which provides engineering and support services to the MoD. “Because we have knowledge and experience in areas that our customers do not always know in such detail, we can make suggestions on how to improveInside-out guide to a career in defence Companies serving the MoD have the edge on dynamic jobs for high-fliers. By Barbara Lantin services which they might not have thought of,” she says. Intense competition within the sector means that companies have to improve constantly their performance, which presents challenges for staff. Alex Hickson, 33, is a mechanical engineering graduate who works on developing high-end composite materials for defence at LMUK INSYS, in Bedfordshire. This month LMUK received a prestigious award for its undergraduate work placementWide brief: Naval training from the VT Group, left, catering from Sodexho Defence, above, and virtual product development by Lockheed Martin, right dome makes understanding the design easier, as you can walk through and inside the model in cyberspace, animate different parts, view things from every angle and even make the model semi-transparent. Carter says: “The 3D dome allows us to create a cyberspace model of a real vehicle and show the troops who will use it, and theprogramme from the National Council for Work Experience. Hickson is also part of a team of “black belt” trainers at LMUK helping to deliver the Lean Manufacturing production practice and the Six Sigma business management strategy, both of which are designed to streamline production, increase efficiency, reduce defects and lower costs. This kind of modelling is now regarded as standard by those responsible for defence commissioning. Hickson, who last year won an employee excellence award, says: “We do not only apply these standards to ourselves but to our suppliers as well, so the effect cascades down. We contract to purchase materials, components and services and we have trained members of staff in companies that supply these to us. This improves the timing and quality of their performance and impacts on the service we pass on to our customers.” Jo Grant, 23, who left York University with a history degree two years ago, was drawn to VT Group partly by the flexible career path presented by its rotational placement scheme. Around 90 per cent of the group’s graduates stay on after their training. “We rely on these people to form the next generation of senior leaders,” says Jo Robbins. Grant is on the last of her four, six-month placements — this time as an assistant project manager with the Military Flying Training System (MFTS), a £6billion, 25-year project to train aircrew at all levels across the three military services. “What appeals to me about the graduate training generally is the variety,” says Grant, who is working on the first phase of the project, to support advanced jet training operations at RAF Valley in North Wales. “My area of responsibility is risk management, which is also new to me. One of the key things I have learned is the sheer number of people involved in this kind of partnership. You have to bring together suppliers, ICT providers, MoD staff and the people on the ground — or in this case in the air. Overall, I am developing strong project management skills.”TESTING FIGHTING MACHINES IN CYBERSPACE BAE Systems have developed a technology called the System Integration Facility in Leicester, which can create extraordinarily detailed, textured three-dimensional models of armoured vehicles that engineers, designers and soldiers can interact with and even “swim” through. “It works in a similar way to the IMAX 3D movies,” says Mark Carter, Vetronics and Integration Capability Manager at BAE Systems. “An array of projectors creates two images which are brought together by users wearing special polarised 3D glasses. The clever bit is the software that converts the computer-aided design drawings into 3Dlife-sized textured images inside a specially-designed dome. This allows us to be innovative. We can try things and if they don’t work, we haven’t spent months labouring over a design which proves not to work.” For those who might find engineering diagrams a lot like a foreign language, the 3Dsuppliers who help us build or modify it, what the finished product might look like. They can provide input at this stage without us having to build the real thing or a physical mock-up, which means we can do the job faster, better and cheaper with fewer false starts. That’s vital when our troops face new threats all the time.”Job search Sector HealthcareSearch results 1069 job vacanciesLocation jobs.telegraph.co.ukSearchFinding your perfect job could be easier than you think Search thousands of vacancies, from engineering to education, online now atjobs.telegraph.co.uk
*** *** THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2009*** ***CAREERS INThe Daily Telegraph in association with| IDefenceWednesday, March 25, 2009 jobs.telegraph.co.uk/caProduced byTelegraph Create Special Reports GETTYSECURITY QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY THE MICROCHIP MASTERMINDS WORKING WITH SUPERCOMPUTER
*** *** THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2009*** ***The Daily TelegraphGRADUATES CAREERS IN DEFENCE| IIIHappy landings The UK’s influence is expanding globally and providing a wealth of career opportunities for graduates who want to travel. Adam Ramsay looks at three success storiesTHE HAGUE
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*** *** THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2009*** ***The Daily TelegraphSUPERCOMPUTERS CAREERS IN DEFENCE| VMicrochip monsters Some of the most advanced supercomputers in the world are used in Britain’s defence industry — and have been for decades, writes Richard Milton fitted on to a chip no
*** VI*** *** WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2009 THE DAILY TELEGRAPHCAREERS IN DEFENCE THE ARMY|***The Daily TelegraphOn parade: ceremonial occasions allow the British Army to echo the scarlet and gold splendour of a bygone ageALAMYTHE FARRIERTop-ranking opportunities The service offers a wide variety of car
*** *** THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2009*** ***The Daily TelegraphOUTSOURCING CAREERS IN DEFENCE| VIIWhether it’s training aircrew, providing a communications system to serve the Royal Navy fleet or building short take-off, vertical landing F-35s to replace the Harriers, virtually every
*** VIII*** *** WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2009 THE DAILY TELEGRAPHCAREERS IN DEFENCE ROYAL NAVY|***The Daily TelegraphPride in the Senior Service A submarine navigator, Sea Harrier pilot and Warfare Officer trainee each remain as committed and enthusiastic today as when they embarked on their careers. By
