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
Brisbane-based EPE and Adelaide-based BAE Systems Australia will collaborate on the development of autonomous technologies through BAE Systems’ Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) program, which began this year. The collaboration was announced at L:and Forces 2022. Focused on implementing BAE Systems’…
Melbourne-based APV Corporation launched the new APV FutureEdge Test and Evaluation (T&E) consortium at the Land Forces 2022 expo, offering multi-domain defence research T&E capabilities. APV FutureEdge is a consortium that brings together research and test and evaluation (T&E) capabilities…
Queensland rocket company Black Sky Aerospace (BSA) has tested a prototype missile launch pod as it forges ahead with building a sovereign Australian guided weapons capability. After testing rockets earlier in the year to start the process of integrating a…
The Australian Government has announced plans to refresh Australia’s science and research priorities and its National Science Statement. Australia’s Science and Research Priorities were last updated in 2015, while the National Science Statement was published in 2017. “Both these policy…
The Defence Innovation Hub has awarded contracts worth $27 million to ten Australian businesses, including a Tasmanian research organisation. “Investing in Australian innovation is critical to building our national defence capability,” said Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy. “The contracts being…
The French Groupe Gorgé has acquired fellow French autonomy specialist iXblue. This purchase will bring underwater warfare specialist ECA Group and iXblue together to create a European high-tech industrial champion in the fields of robotics, maritime, navigation, aerospace and photonics.…
International defence robotics and mine countermeasures leader ECA Group has joined forces with UGL, a member of the CIMIC Group and one of Australia’s biggest multi-disciplined engineering companies, to cement its permanent operations in Australia. Headquartered in France, ECA Group…
Australian and UK researchers and innovators have moved a step closer to establishing an Advanced Manufacturing Research Exchange to collaborate on modern manufacturing methods that could be adapted to shipbuilding and marine operations under way in both hemispheres. A Memorandum…
Defence, in collaboration with the United States Space Force (USSF), has achieved Initial Operational Capability of the WA-based Space Surveillance Telescope (SST) to provide greatly enhanced Space Domain Awareness (SDA). As announced at the 2012 Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN),…
Army is seeking an industry partner to apply their expertise and bring innovative and novel thinking to ensure Army’s combat command, control, communications and computing (C4) workforce will remain effective in the future. Forward thinking companies developing solutions that challenge…
