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
The Government of Canada has announced it will acquire the Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II aircraft as a result of the Future Fighter Capability Project competition which was launched in 2017. The contract is valued at US$14.2 billion. Canada is…
The third prototype of South Korea’s indigenous fighter, the Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) KF-21 Boromae, has made its maiden flight. The South Korean Defence Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) announced this third prototype would be used to expand the fighter’s flight…
DroneShield Ltd has received a new purchase order worth approximately A$11 million from an undisclosed a Government agency customer. The order includes several different types of DroneShield counterdrone/C-UAS equipment. The order is expected to be delivered by mid 2023. The…
The Australian Department of Defence has signed a contract of undisclosed value with Norwegian firm Kongsberg to deliver the Naval Strike Missile (NSM), which will be employed on the Hobart Class destroyers and Anzac Class frigates, replacing the ageing Harpoon…
Canberra-based Skykraft has launched the first five of what it plans will be a 200-strong constellation of Air Traffic Management (ATM) satellites. The launch, in early January 2023, sent the largest Australian-made payload into space: at approximately 300kg, this locally…
DroneShield Ltd has delivered all Contractual elements of the Artificial Intelligence Computer Vision System (ACVS) program to the Australian Department of Defence under a Phase 2 Defence Innovation Hub program originally announced in November 2021. The contract value is approximately…
The US Navy has demonstrated a new launch and recovery concept for large unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs). This follows a collaborative R&D effort by a U.S. Navy team from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division, Newport, and Huntington Ingalls…
Türkiye’s Bayraktar Akıncı unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has successfully hit the target with its first air-to-surface hypersonic missile during a test launch. Türkiye is now the preferred terminology of the Turkish Republic. The TRG-230 air-to-surface hypersonic missile, developed by Türkiye’s…
The US Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) has demonstrated multiple unmanned systems in a first-of-its-kind mission to move supplies to ships at sea without the use of manned aircraft during an event at Naval Air Station Patuxent River…
Twelve Australian innovators have been shortlisted for the prestigious AVALON 2023 Innovation Awards. And in their tenth anniversary year, the cash prizes for two of the Awards have been more than doubled, to $50,000 each. The Awards are sponsored this…
