Innovation and R&D have always been the essential foundations of a strong, sustainable defence industry. Australia’s 2016 Defence White Paper, Defence Industry Policy Statement (DIPS) and Defence Integrated Investment Program (DIIP) acknowledge the importance of successful Defence R&D and innovation to the nation’s defence industry and thus to Australian defence policy. The 2020 Defence Force Structure Plan reinforced these foundations.
EX2 was set up by Dr Gregor Ferguson, a defence industry and innovation analyst and consultant, to make a useful contribution in Australia’s new and welcoming defence business environment.
EX2 helps innovators in Defence, the research sector and industry, and especially SMEs, by providing news and insight about innovation in Defence and adjacent sectors such as space, aerospace and resources.
Gregor Ferguson writes, teaches, advises and runs a national program designed to encourage and reward innovators in the defence, aerospace and maritime domains in both industry and the research and academic communities.
View his bio here (PDF opens in new window).
Dr Gregor Ferguson, Ph.D, BA (Hons), MRAeS
During last year’s Australian-led EX Maritime Big Play, AUKUS military operators and technical experts tested and employed approximately 30 next-generation capabilities in a tactical setting, said Defence in a media release issued this month, working with industry in real time…
European missile house MBDA has signed a contract with the French Direction Générale de l'Armement (DGA) for the development and production of the ONE WAY EFFECTOR - LIGHT (OWE-L), a long-range loitering munition designed to saturate enemies’ defences. The manufacturing…
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) LongShot program has successfully completed a series of technical milestones, moving its air-launched uninhabited vehicle – recently designated the X-68A – closer to flight testing, says DARPA in a media release. The…
Defence is seeking co-funding proposals of up to $500 million from the private capital market to invest in Australian businesses developing advanced defence and dual‑use capabilities. Depending on the finance industries’ responses Defence may co-invest on a dollar-matching basis, meaning…
Sydney based defence AI start-up Breaker has raised AUS$9 million (US$6.4 million) in seed funding from US venture capital fund Bessemer Venture Partners to tackle what CEO and co-founder Matt Buffa calls the ‘operator bottleneck’ in exploiting AI on the…
British company AALTO HAPS Ltd, an Airbus subsidiary that manufactures, operates, and will deliver services using the Zephyr high altitude, solar-powered stratocraft, is targeting its second launch and landing site to be built in the Northern Territory. Zephyr operates in Stratospace,…
San Diego based Shield AI has been selected as a mission autonomy provider supporting the US Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program. Under the program, Shield AI’s Hivemind autonomy software has been integrated on Anduril’s YFQ-44A Fury CCA and is supporting system-level testing in…
The federal government will invest $3.9 billion as a down payment to deliver the new Nuclear-Powered Submarine Construction Yard (NPSCY) in Osborne, SA. In a media release on 15 February Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas…
German companies HENSOLDT and Helsing have signed a strategic partnership to develop AI-enabled combat air systems. Their first joint initiative will focus on Helsing’s AI-enabled autonomous combat aircraft, the CA-1 Europa, designed to enhance Europe’s defence capability and technological leadership,…
Australian hypersonic flight pioneer Hypersonix Launch Systems has announced the launch window for a landmark flight test that the company says will move sustained hypersonic flight closer to operational reality. Its DART AE hypersonic air vehicle will be carried on…
