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
Costa Mesa-based Anduril Industries has delivered a rapidly deployable kit of field-proven Counter-Uncrewed Aerial Systems (C-UAS) to USNORTHCOM to respond to the growing threat of unauthorized drones. The system was recently demonstrated at EX Falcon Peak 25.2 at Eglin Air…
Astroscale Holdings, a Japanese leader in the emergent science of satellite servicing, or On-Orbit Servicing (OOS), has signed a three-year MoU with Australian company High Earth Robotics Pty Limited (HEO), an acknowledged market leader in non-earth imaging and space-based Space…
Sydney-based DroneShield has unveiled its DroneSentry-C2 Enterprise (C2E), a new software platform designed to provide strategic-level command and control for large-scale and distributed counter-drone operations. The company has received its first order for C2E from a European multi-site customer in a…
The governments of Australia and the United States and Defence prime contractor Lockheed Martin havesigned a Joint Statement of Intent on co-production of guided weapons. The two governments have also opened a new joint office in Huntsville, Alabama, to enhance…
Californian company Anduril Industries has unveiled EagleEye, a modular, AI-powered family of systems that unifies command and control, digital vision, and survivability within a single, adaptive architecture and light weight Heads-Up Display (HUD). The company has partnered with commercial leaders…
Stratford-based Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, has unveiled an Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) version of the venerable Black Hawk helicopter, the S-70UAS™ U-Hawk™. This is a Group 5 UAS with 25% more cargo space than a typical Black Hawk. Sikorsky…
Wilmington, Massachusetts-based Textron Systems has announced its Damocles Launched Effect (LE) system, an Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) designed to deliver a significant strategic advantage in peer warfare environments. Equipped with Textron Systems’ advanced GEN2 Explosively Formed Penetrator (EFP), the Damocles…
Californian company Anduril Industries and Raytheon, an RTX business, have successfully completed a static fire test of an advanced Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) featuring a Highly Loaded Grain (HLG) configuration. The test was conducted in partnership with Raytheon’s Advanced Technology…
The UK Royal Navy's Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Spearhead program has rapidly developed three autonomous testbed platforms, CETUS, PROTEUS, and SCYLLA, to enhance the service’s ASW capabilities. A collaboration between the Royal Navy, defence industry, and research organisations the ASW Spearhead…
The UK’s Royal Navy has issued a Request for Tenders, closing on 14 November, for a technical demonstration at sea of an attritable, Tier 2 Fixed Wing Short Take Off and Landing Autonomous Collaborative Platform (FW STOL ACP). Delivered under…
