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
DroneShield Ltd Has sold a 4.1% shareholding to US software and directed energy company Epirus Inc in a deal worth some $3.7 million. Epirus is a high-growth US technology company developing software-defined directed energy systems that enable unprecedented counter-electronics effects and…
The French Ministry of Defence’s Direction Générale De l’Armement (DGA) has awarded maritime autonomy specialist Exail a €0.5 million contract as part of the future hydrographic and oceanographic capability (CHOF) program for the French Navy. The contract will see Exail…
The Adelaide-based SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre, (CRC) has announced a project agreement with NASA to further develop new Search and Rescue (SAR) beacon technologies. This will help assure the safety of astronauts in orbit and on the moon as part…
Lockheed Martin Australia’s $74 million investment in a national Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) ecosystem has been earmarked for development within the Williamtown Special Activation Precinct (SAP). The fully inclusive facility, designed to support Australia’s sovereign capability and future…
MBDA and its partners in the DragonFire consortium have successfully carried out the first static high power laser firing of a sovereign UK capability at DSTL’s range in Porton Down. Using QinetiQ’s phase-combined laser demonstrator, generating in the order of 50kW…
In collaboration with the British Army, SPEE3D will demonstrate its WarpSPEE3D Printer at the US Army’s Project Convergence 2022, showcasing the benefits of Additive Manufacturing (3D printing) technology to Defence. The SPEE3D team has joined Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers…
French company Exail, formerly ECA Group, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sydney based Solutions from Silicon to provide advanced data management capabilities for both manned and unmanned Mine Countermeasures (MCM) missions in Australia and overseas. This will…
The Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) has teamed with Australian-owned company Nova Systems to prototype a new facility for Space Domain Awareness (SDA). The formal partnership will deliver a prototype passive array radar…
The US Space Development Agency (SDA), which is now part of the US Space Force, has issued a Request for Information for developing a low-cost L-band Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) payload which can be added to potentially hundreds of satellites…
A planned launch from Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex in South Australia has been postponed after severe weather caused an electrical fault to the ATSpace Kestrel 1 launch vehicle. Severe thunderstorms, high winds and heavy rain struck the Whalers Way…
