<p>I've always wanted to be an engineer that designs and creates weapons and equipment for the military, but for some reason I've never really sought advice on how to become one.</p>
<p>I've always figured Mechanical would be the way to go. Is this true? I've also thought about Aerospace or something with robotics - does that have more to do with Electrical engineering? </p>
<p>I suppose whichever I do (leaning towards Mechanical at this point unless someone can explain otherwise), I'll get my bachelor's degree and in my fourth year or whenever I get a chance to start choosing my own electives and projects I'll gear them towards military sciences. </p>
<p>Then I'm planning to get my Ph.D, do some research with weapons systems if possible, then get a civilian job with some company like Raytheon or Lockheed (name some others if you know them) or get some job working for the government. </p>
<p>This is a very basic outline, but please let me know what I should expect or what I have wrong in this plan. Any input is appreciated.</p>
<p>When I see people say that they want to get a PhD when they haven’t even started their undergrad I have to chuckle. Most people don’t realize the amount of work that it takes or if they even like engineering let alone research. There is nothing wrong with setting goals but I don’t think that some people are not aware of the sacrifices that a PhD in engineering will take. I would focus on the bachelors first and if you are not completely burned out, then go for the advanced degree.</p>
<p>I don’t think there is one general field for weapons. I once heard that no one actually makes the whole weapon. Pieces are put together by different groups.</p>
<p>That may be so, ME76. I’ve had a little bit of research experience from tagging along with my dad on his projects. He got his Ph.D. in ChE from Cornell and still works closely with many of the professors. Not that I understood what was going on all of the time, but it interests me much more than the ordinary engineering jobs that I’ve shadowed. </p>
<p>It’s probably just because I’m young and fit, but I feel like I can take on any challenge. … I’m much too young, eh?</p>
<p>Don’t worry Llakhigh, I’m just like you, ready to take on the world. I think it’s good to have ambitious goals, it’s what will get you through it and make you want to work hard.</p>
<p>Military equipment procurements are massive expenditures of capital with many different engineers working on many different things. A design engineer might design a few components on a major project, a process engineer might aid in the manufacture of certain components on a major project, a test engineer might test a few components (or maybe the whole design) on a major project.</p>
<p>I’d say there are very few weapon systems small enough for single engineers to work on everything.</p>
<p>SMART is still around but if you do it you are contractually obligated to work at a DoD facility for as many years as they paid for school, which can be a mixed bag. Guaranteed job, but there is no guarantee you will like it and it will not be the best pay. Then again, free school!</p>
<p>And as for the major, it really depends on what types of weapons and what parts you want to work on, as many on here have already alluded to.</p>
<p>You can also get SMART for only grad school. Back when I applied for it a few years ago I was selected as an alternate and had to go through the whole decision on if it was worth the extra money/job placement in exchange for a large loss in freedom.</p>
<p>Yeah I didn’t do SMART but I know a few people who did (grad students). They seem about half and half whether they actually are glad they did it just because some are looking forward to work places like AFRL or AFOSR and others aren’t.</p>
<p>“And as for the major, it really depends on what types of weapons and what parts you want to work on, as many on here have already alluded to.” - boneh3ad</p>
<p>I can give a simplified example re: avionics. They need a black box for some plane. Many different sorts of engineers build it. They continue over the course of years and even decades, in some cases, to upgrade the thing via software (more often) and electronics (less often) upgrades. The mechanical systems, like cooling for example, remain more or less static, unless there is some compelling reason to fix a problem.</p>
<p>I did meet someone once who was replacing (redesigning) the warhead on a bomb. Maybe he was an ME?</p>
<p>Well, for instance, if you want to work on designing ELINT packages or avionics or communications equipment, you should be doing Electrical Engineering.</p>
<p>If you want to be physically designing the next major airplane, you should be a Mechanical or Aerospace Engineer.</p>
<p>If you want to design tanks, you would want to be a Mechanical Engineer.</p>
<p>If you want to design military bases, you should be a civil engineer.</p>
<p>Military hardware really requires all types of engineering at some level or another depending on what kind of hardware we are talking about. It really just comes down to what you want to design and what subjects interest you.</p>
<p>To throw my major in, there’s always work in finding materials which absorb energy better, absorb radar better, expand less, and do all sorts of funny things the military might need.</p>
<p>The soviets actually had a pretty neat program in trying to make lab-created diamonds so they could put diamond windows in the missiles so they wouldn’t be damaged by the harsh climate of the desert (think sandblasting).</p>