The UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is co-funding a research programme that is looking into the problems caused by cosmic radiation - the constant bombardment of the Earth's atmosphere by charged particles - and the serious effect this has on modern aircraft electronics. Under the contract, MBDA, one of the world's leading guided missile systems companies, is heading a team involving BAE Systems, Smiths Aerospace (part of Smiths Group plc) and Goodrich Engine Control Systems as well as several leading UK academic institutions (University of Lancaster, University of Central Lancashire and the University of Surrey). This research programme, which is partially backed by a DTI subsidy, covers a period of three years from October 2003. The industrial team partners will provide the balance of the funding. The consortium is also collaborating with a parallel UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) research programme, which is being performed by QinetiQ. The structure of the consortium and its work packages are shown in the outline presentation at this link.

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