All engineering degrees within UNSW Canberra aim to provide outstanding engineering education to the future leaders of the Australian Defence Force and civilian students to pursue excellence through contributions to the engineering profession, industry and the community.

The Chief of Defence Force Honours Program in Engineering offers the opportunity for students entering UNSW Canberra with a high Entrance Rank, and who maintain a high level of performance in their studies, to undertake research in a range of disciplines that will develop their critical thinking and independent research skills beyond that available in the standard Engineering program.

In Year 1 of the program, students will be engaged with cohort activities so as to develop and maintain their interest and continuing involvement in the program via invited lectures, seminars, general reading and social events.

Commencing in Year 2, the research projects, each offered as separate courses, will be supervised by academic staff from the same or closely related discipline. Students in the research courses may work independently or as part of a team, depending on the nature of the project undertaken, though all students will submit individual assessment. Final assessment, due by the end of semester, will be based on a written paper and an oral presentation.

The Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) (CDF) in Naval Architecture program has objectives and learning outcomes in common with the standard Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Naval Architecture program.

The program extends the educational principles embodied in the Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Naval Architecture to a higher level of the degree. In the program, students will be exposed to research methods in Engineering and will be offered significant extensions to the ideas and analysis performed in the standard degree program. This will allow them to undertake research projects, at the appropriate level, in their later years, thereby, more fully integrating research into the standard undergraduate degree. The individual projects undertaken in close association with academic staff on research topics of mutual interest underpin the program and give the students the ability to develop their full potential.

Naval Architecture is concerned with the design, building and utilisation of all types of ships and marine vehicles.

Ships and marine vehicles can be classified into military vessels which include frigates, destroyers, patrol vessels, aircraft carriers, mine hunters and submarines; trading vessels which include cargo and container ships; and commercial vessels which include fishing boats, tugs, dredges, pilot boats, lighthouse supply craft, servicing vessels for oil rigs, crew transfer, passenger and vehicle ferries, floating cranes, and other specialised ships and pleasure craft. These three categories of marine vehicles can be in the form of a monohull (the usual single-hull ship or boat), a multihull catamaran or trimaran (a twin or triple hull vessel), or dynamically supported craft such as hovercraft (an air-cushion vehicle) or hydrofoil (a vessel that is lifted out of the water by submerged wings).

Naval architects must be conversant with a wide variety of skills, including most forms of engineering and marine architecture. A ship must be a completely self-sufficient vehicle containing several systems and able to withstand the loads from the sea.

Graduates of the program are expected to meet UNSW Graduate Capabilities embodied in the Program Learning Outcomes and Engineers Australia Stage 1 Competencies.