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 Aerostructures Innovation Research Hub (AIR Hub) at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne and the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University in Kansas, USA have signed a wide-ranging partnership agreement to boost local and international…
Dr Sanjay Mazumdar has been appointed as Executive Director of the Defence Trailblazer for Concept to Sovereign Capability. The project is a partnership between the Universities of Adelaide and NSW (UNSW) and it is estimated that it will have a net…
Queensland rocket company Black Sky Aerospace (BSA) has received approval to test guided weapons from its Southern Queensland launch site in what is believed to be the first ever such approval for a civilian operator. BSA will start advanced testing…
Australia’s Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG) has selected EM Solutions to carry out Introduction into Service and Support Services for the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) existing fleet of Cobra Maritime Satellite Communications (SATCOM) terminals for a period of three…
Silentium Defence has launched a new, world-first, category defining ‘observatory-in-a-box’ capability for improved Space Domain Awareness and Space Traffic Management globally. Designed and built in Australia, the deployable observatories combine Silentium’s powerful, full-field-of-view, MAVERICK S passive radar for detection and…
Sydney-based Saber Astronautics is working with AST SpaceMobile, the company building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by standard mobile phones, to provide 24/7 operations support and key flight software tools for the AST SpaceMobile BlueWalker…
Australian online newsletter Space Connect says that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a Japanese spacecraft will be allowed to land at Woomera in South Australia following a “world-first mission” to one of the moons of Mars — Phobos. The agreement…
The last batch of the Airbus-built, owned and operated Pléiades Neo satellites has arrived at the European Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. Scheduled to be launched at the end of November on the first commercial mission of the Vega…
The Albanese Labor Government is giving a boost to advanced manufacturing by supporting the expansion of the Factory of the Future in Adelaide. Minister for Industry and Science, Ed Husic, announced funding of $10.1 million in the Labor Government’s first…
With entries opening today for the AVALON 2023 Innovation Awards, organiser AMDA Foundation has announced that the cash prizes for its SME Innovation Award and Young Innovator Award will more than triple for this event, to $50,000 each. The AVALON…
