The Ministry of Defence will reluctantly hand control of a project to build two new aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy to BAE Systems in an attempt to avoid a £700 million tax bill.

The £3.8 billion carriers will be built by an alliance of engineering companies including BAE, VT, Babcock and Thales UK, but only one must be named prime contractor. In a twist of tax law, VAT is applied to ships built by multiple companies but not to those built by only one.

.....click the link to read more 

Inside the International Space Station is a big red button with a plastic cover. It means only one thing if the astronauts press it: their lives are in danger.

It's the button to abort the pending arrival of a new European-made cargo carrier, the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), which is now hurtling toward the space station. How well the engineering on that ship works is a life-or-death matter for the station's three residents.

The unmanned spacecraft is scheduled to make an automated docking at the station Thursday at 9:40 a.m. ET. There's no way for the astronauts to seize control — as they can during the docking of the Russian automated cargo ship, the Progress. If the ATV's systems fail, it could crash into the station and puncture it. Then the crew's air could hiss into outer space.

....click the link to read more 

Lockheed Martin has announced that the first Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) geosynchronous orbit (GEO-1) spacecraft is progressing through a series of key engineering tests that will demonstrate the integrated satellite's readiness to enter the critical environmental test phase in preparation for launch in late 2009.

....click the link to read more 

Scientists and engineers have drawn up a list of 25 technological advances and environmental changes which pose a potential threat to the UK.
They include the use of artificially created life, the building of microscopic robots through nanotechnology, the use of biofuels and the arrival of invasive species.
Although their impact is uncertain and some will turn out to be irrelevant, some may become the keys issues of the future.

....click the link to read more 

The United States and Russia are deadlocked on missile defense in Europe, with the US defense secretary saying the US has gone as far as it can to make Russia happy.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ comments came after Moscow rejected US concessions on its plans for engineering and missile interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic.
“I guess my view is I think we’ve leaned about as far forward as we can. We’ve offered a lot. And my view is, now I want to see some movement on their part,” Gates told reporters as he flew back from Europe today.

....click the link to read more 

Prompted by potential oil deposits in the Gulf of Thailand waiting to be tapped after US-based Chevron engineers found promising oil deposits at offshore test wells in 2005, Cambodia has begun mustering its resources to establish a credible naval force to protect its interests – a move that is being watched with interest by its neighbours and allies.

....click the link to read more 

 BANGALORE: AEC Project Services (I) Private Ltd, a project managment company, has announced its foray into the detailed engineering space in the domestic market as part of its value added bouquet of offerings to Indian customers.

AEC is keen in leveraging its current expertise and experience gained in the detailed engineering space in the Middle East and USA to offer this service to the domestic market here, T S Suneeth Kumar, CEO, AEC said.

....click the link to read more 

On January 26, 2007, when the sleek, indigenously developed Nag Missile Carrier (NAMICA) rolled down Rajpath in the Republic Day parade, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) executives and workers watched with satisfaction.
 
The NAMICA, based on a BMP-1 armoured vehicle, had been integrated by India’s biggest private sector engineering company, a project that had begun years before defence manufacturing was thrown open to the private sector in 2001.

....click the link to read more 

Russian militry engineers said a new sea-based ballistic missile made its first successful test flight Thursday after several previous failures, in what was the country’s second major test of new rocket technology in a month.

Capt. Igor Dygalo, a spokesman for the Russian navy, told The Associated Press that the Bulava missile (SS-NX-30) was fired from the submarine Dmitry Donskoi, a Typhoon class ballistic missile submarine, in northern Russia’s White Sea.

....click the link to read more 

WASHINGTON: Five years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, the US military is flagging under long and repeated deployments that have taken a toll on militry enginering and troops and hurt its readiness to deal with other crises. "People are tired," is the way Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, summed it up at a congressional hearing last month.
And why wouldn't they be tired,  without wishing to get politically involved,  it's not their war.
The Americans went in under false pretenses,  the intelligence was wrong,  they cobbled together a rag tag bunch of accomplices and coerced a bastardized approval out of the UN. They committed an act of war by attacking another country.  Saddam Hussein might not have been a very nice person,  but there are lots of other "not very nice"  leaders and America is not invading them. 

....click this link to read more  

Raytheon has been awarded a U.S. Army contract modification worth $115 million to provide engineering services in support of the Patriot Air and Missile Defense program , the premier air and missile defense system for the U.S. and its allies.

....click the link to read more 

New Delhi, March 16: Indian Air Force`s efforts to upgrade its sole ground attack MiG-27 fighters have been questioned by the Comptroller and Auditor General, saying that the modernised aircraft would have only a "limited viability".

"The upgrade project would have limited viability," the CAG said in its latest report tabled in Parliament as it felt inherent problems being faced by the aircraft and engines have not been resolved.

....click the link to read more