READERSFORUM.

Engineer Attrition at Boeing

The question of attrition in the Boeing engineering community was addressed in "Boeing Chief Executive Extols Benefits of Employee Education Program" (Industry Focus, August 2000, p.8) The report cited a loss of 32 engineers out of 22,000 after the recent strike.

Approximately 20,000 engineers and technical employees are represented by the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), in the Puget Sound area, including approximately 11,000 engineers and 9,000 technical employees. Since January 2000, 1,082 of the 11,000 engineers have quit or retired. The annualized rate of voluntary terminations peaked at 20 percent in April, but has dropped to 12-13 percent in August. Among the 1,200 Boeing SPEEA-represented engineers in Wichita, Kan., the annualized voluntary termination rate has increased steadily since January, reaching the same 12-13 percent annualized rate as of August. The historic rate of voluntary termination in the SPEEA-represented engineering population is about 3-5 percent.

In 1990, the population of engineers peaked at 29 years of age, with most in the 25-35 age range. The peak in 2000, is at 39. The age band from 25 to 35 years is largely eliminated, creating a "lost generation" of young engineers. For the first time in decades, Boeing is losing engineers with 10, 15 and 20 years of experience at high rates. Recruitment from the 2000 college graduation class was not encouraging.

Attrition is one factor in a complex and troubling situation. The first step to understanding the causes and consequences is to collect accurate data and analyze it critically.

Stan Sorscher

SEATTLE

On Land Warrior

The quotes attributed to me in your article on the Land-Warrior Follow-On (September 2000, p.16), require clarification to avoid misinterpretation by your readers. The Land Warrior (LW) and the Lightweight, Low Power Warrior (LWLPW) programs are not competing programs in any sense. LW is an on-going Engineering Manufacturing Development (EMD) program and LWLPW is a planned Science and Technology (S&T) demonstration scheduled for FYO4-07. The LWLPW is, in fact, working on technology for future upgrades to the warrior system, the first version of which is LW. Further, all warrior systems work is fully coordinated among agencies to assure that the efforts are neither duplicative nor competing in any way and that a coherent roadmap is established to guide transitions seamlessly throughout the life cycle.

The LWLPW is a next generation warrior system and is working evolutionary and revolutionary technology (e.g., use of non-traditional, nano-materials and fuel cells) for a future iteration of the LW along the planned path of continuing system modernization/improvement. The balance of affordability against leap-ahead capability will dictate how much revolution versus evolution takes place.

Donald J. Wajda

SOLDIER SYSTEMS CENTER

NATICK, MASS.

It's All Material

I just read the article "Scientists Weave Spider Silk Into New Bulletproof Vests" (September 2000, p. 26). The author starts out with identifying Kevlar as the norm. That was true 10 years ago. Spectra, Spectra Shield, and its variant hybrid forms clearly out perform Kevlar with twice its strength, and are used widely by top end-users among your readers.

I've worked in the body armor industry for years, and the presence of other ballistic materials are quite obvious, including Twaron and Dyneema to name a couple.

On the other hand, the development of lighter and stronger ballistic packages is critical for military and law enforcement applications. Even the best vest is still uncomfortable.

Greg Cohen

Size Does Matter

HAWTHORNE, N.J.

Regarding the article "Infantry Weapons 11 Get Accuracy On-the-Move," (Firepower, September 2000, p.38), in the next to last paragraph the last sentence reads: "When they fired the same weapon from a standing position, their groups were between .28 and .30 millimeters." [sic] That's pretty darn good. Considering that the hole made by a single M16A2 bullet in a target is 5.56mm in diameter, the groups (multiple bullets) would be smaller than a single bullet hole!

Michael V. Stratton

KELLER. TX