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
LeoLabs, a leading commercial provider of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) mapping and Space Situational Awareness (SSA) services, has commissioned its West Australian Space Radar (WASR). The WASR site at Collie, near Bunbury in WA, hosts two S-band active phased array…
Sydney-based Quickstep Holdings Ltd’s Aerostructures business has secured a contract award from Dronamics for the production and supply of their Black Swan unmanned cargo aircraft. The anticipated value of the firm contract requirement is likely to be in the range…
Saber Astronautics has announced the first set of projects selected for development at the International Space Station (ISS). Saber’s Australian Astronaut Program, announced last July, aims to bring Australian-industry and researchers into the spaceflight community and benefit from the trillion…
Northrop Grumman Corporation, AT&T and Fujitsu have demonstrated 5G-enabled intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities in Northrop Grumman’s new 5G lab. The demonstration integrated radios with Northrop Grumman’s tactical data links, AT&T’s private 5G network and Fujitsu’s Open Radio Access…
Northrop Grumman Corporation's Long Duration Propulsive ESPA (LDPE)-3A spacecraft has launched successfully into near-geostationary orbit in support of the US Space Force’s USSF-67 mission. This spacecraft helps advance rapid access to space for the US Space Force and marks the…
Perth-based ship designer and builder Austal Limited has diversified its revenue base by winning a number of contracts worth potentially US$75 million that could expose the company to significant long-term growth opportunities. While not necessarily material on an individual commercial…
NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have announced a collaboration to demonstrate a nuclear thermal rocket engine in space, an enabling capability for NASA crewed missions to Mars. The two agencies will partner on the Demonstration Rocket…
NASA has selected Boeing and its industry team to lead the development and flight testing of a full-scale Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) demonstrator airplane. The technologies demonstrated and tested as part of the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator (SFD) program will inform…
Western Australian company Austal Limited has been awarded a time and material (T&M) contract by General Dynamics Electric Boat (GDEB) for structural assembly fabrication in support of the US Navy's nuclear-powered Virginia Class submarine program. The contract, potentially worth up…
French undersea autonomy specialist Exail took part in the US Navy’s recent Digital Horizon Unmanned & Artificial Intelligence Exercise in Bahrain. The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet held the three-week exercise in December to test new unmanned technologies, as part of…
