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
Lockheed Martin Australia has delivered a significant milestone in Defence’s Counter Improvised Threats Grand Challenge (CIT-GC) funded by the Next Generation Technologies Fund (NGTF), successfully demonstrating its ‘Agile Shield’ solution at its Endeavour Centre in Canberra. Developed by Lockheed Martin’s…
The US subsidiary of BAE Systems has taken a further step into the global battery market, announcing a collaboration with Heart Aerospace, a Swedish electric aircraft manufacturer, to define the battery system for Heart’s ES-30 regional electric airplane. The battery…
The first Regional Office of NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) has opened in London; the UK is partnered with Estonia in this venture and a further hub in Estonia's capital, Tallinn, is due to open later…
US company AeroVironment has unveiled the newest version of its Switchblade® 300 rapidly deployable loitering missile system. The Switchblade 300 Block 20 builds on Block 10C’s performance in Ukraine with new operational features and significant performance and capability improvements. The company…
The US Navy has awarded contracts worth US$116 million (AUD$175 million) to Raytheon Missiles and Defense and Lockheed Martin for the initial development of a carrier-suitable long range, high-speed missile designated Hypersonic Air Launched Offensive Anti-Surface (HALO). The contract award…
More than $3.2 million in Defence Global Competitiveness and Sovereign Industrial Capability Priority grants have been awarded to six Australian SMEs that are supporting the manufacturing of defence capabilities. The grant programs provide 50 per cent matching grants to assist…
The Australian Government’s $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund (NRF) will be established in law after the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation Bill was approved by the country’s Senate. The NRF was first announced in the Interim Budget on 25 October 2022.…
Airbus Defence and Space and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Airbus UpNext, have achieved in-flight autonomous guidance and control of an Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) using an A310 MRTT. In a first step towards Autonomous Formation Flight and Autonomous Air-to-Air refuelling (A4R), the technologies…
Rare Earth Minerals. Image: American Geosciences Institute Applications for the second round of Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) Seed Grants are now open. Entries close on 5 May 2023. This program provides funding of between $50,000 and $500,000 per project to…
The US Air Force has awarded Raytheon Technologies a US$320 million (AUD$478 million) contract to produce and deliver 1,500 GBU-53B StormBreaker® smart weapons – formerly known as the Small Diameter Bomb. The air-launched StormBreaker is a network enabled glide bomb…
