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Meet Ben - Testing our products to 50Gs
Ben creates one-of-a-kind simulators for our unique products. Learn more below from Ben about an engineering career like no other.
Tell us about the work you and your team do
I'm one of MBDA’s specialist equipment experts. My team and I work with target motion simulators, focusing on hydraulics and electromechanics. The equipment we use is incredibly rare. As far as I know, we’re the only place in the UK that uses it.
Right now, we’re improving the capability of our motion simulators. You can’t buy these off the shelf, so we’re designing the hydraulics and electromagnetic systems in-house and then building, commissioning and maintaining them ourselves.
What makes engineering at MBDA different?
I like to push the limits of technology, and we’re able to find those limits and exceed them quite regularly. It’s so exciting.
For example, we built simulators that can exceed the angular rates of short range missile, which can pull upwards of 50Gs at launch. We create and maintain systems that can match those speeds. Our big motion simulator has a maximum torque of 15 kilonewton meters – that’s the same amount of power as 100 small cars. That’s the kind of power we deal with.
How has your learning been supported here?
I’ve always been given the room and opportunity to learn the things I really want to learn. What I do is quite specialist, and MBDA has let me progress in that and found new roles for me to take on.
Finally, can you tell us about the work/life balance?
It’s brilliant. MBDA support you to build a balance yourself between work and home. As long as you’re delivering your work, you can structure things in a way that suits your life.
