This dictionary started as an in-house dictionary for Lockheed Martin. The compiler has worked for Lockheed Martin and several other high-tech companies. Its aim, clearly stated in the introduction, is to achieve a constant vocabulary for writing engineering reports and for labelling diagrams. This is a good aim and is found in some other dictionaries aimed at practitioners, as opposed to students, enthusiasts and the general public. Lockheed Martin is a major defence, aeronautics, security and advanced technology company. The content of the dictionary reflects this. It would have helped if it had a title that reflected this field of coverage. I would expect a dictionary of engineering to cover mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering, which are not included in this book. The subtitle, A Guide to the Language of Engineering, also misleads, as there is nothing here other than the word list. One would have expected a guide to advice on style, choice of tense, handing of abbreviations and the like. One might also have expected SI units and other lists. The dictionary does not have the usual cross-referencing and see also aids.
Some of the definitions are so industry specific as to be unhelpful. For example, Electronic is defined as “Enemy in interpreting signals from his equipment”. The last term in the book is Z time defined as Zulu time and as coordinated universal time, a synonym for Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). This is correct but does not inform me that the term is almost exclusive of military and aeronautical use. My watch and computer show me GMT (except when they show British Summer Time [BST]). There are some business terms: contractor is defined as are the associate, enterprise and prime contractor. The definitions of electrical/electronic components are clear.
I am sure within companies like Lockheed Martin and their competitors, collaborators and customers, this will prove to be a useful word list and that it will lead to a consistent use of terms. But it does not do what is says on the label, and the dictionary will have limited use outside the specific field for which it was written. It is not sufficiently informative to be of use to those who have an interest in military technology at a general or operational level.
