Building on the successes of Engine as a Weapon 2004 and 2006 the symposium planned for 24 June 2009 aims to further identify and explore the challenges of marrying future combat systems and maritime platforms to provide the completely integrated fighting organism. In so doing it will provide a unique opportunity to raise awareness and understanding in the combat and marine systems communities of each others responses to a background of continual advances in naval design relating to Future Surface Combatants, Submarines and autonomous maritime vehicles.

Papers are invited from industry, academia and government departments, covering the context for future combat systems and high energy weapons and sensors, the opportunities provided by advanced marine systems and the integration challenges faced.

Future maritime platforms will need to provide a seamless delivery of military effect, where highly integrated systems all contribute to the mission. In the specific case of marine engineering this has been termed: “from fuel tank to target”. The modern submarine is a potent example of this level of integration, considered by some to be the most sophisticated and highly integrated military system ever produced it provides a holistic response to threats.

But historically surface warships have developed from a different perspective. With their more general-purpose role, they have tended to carry combat systems that act almost outside the realm of the platform in order to respond to the ever changing threats. But now electrification of platform and propulsion systems is continuing ever more quickly and as a result greater integration and system interdependence is not just inevitable but absolutely essential if the surface warships’ vital roles in maritime warfare are to continue. Surface ships must now be designed in the same way as submarines have been; that is: from a perspective of total integration so that it is not just from fuel tank to target but from every other asset to target in concert.

Drawing on recent designs, development programmes and operational experiences, the symposium will challenge the power-processing divide and explore the need for reliable, high quality electrical power and effective thermal management.