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
Adelaide-based submarine battery manufacturer PMB Defence is partnering with BAE Systems in the United Kingdom to enable the potential integration of its advanced nickel-zinc battery system into the design of the future conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered SSN-AUKUS submarines. PMB will also supply…
Four Australian‑developed quantum technology clocks have been successfully trialled in the United States, as part of Defence’s $2.7 million investment towards these AUKUS Pillar Two capabilities. Held over a six-week period in Washington D.C., the trials saw Adelaide‑based QuantX Labs and the University…
Newport, Virginia-based Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) has announced a new 190-foot autonomous boat, the Romulus 190, that is designed by Sydney-based Incat-Crowther. The new Romulus design is part-built already and will be operational in 2026, says HII’s Duane Fotheringham. It…
US company Leidos will manufacture its aluminium, 37-foot (about 11.3m) Sea Archer Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) in Australia. The first of class is currently under construction in the US but the second will be built in Toronto on the mid-north…
Canberra-based Raytheon Australia has been awarded a $277 million contract extension to continue managing the Ryal Australian Navy’s (RAN’s) Collins-class combat system. This extension allows Raytheon Australia’s local team and local and international partners such as General Dynamics Mission Systems…
The US Air Force has begun flight testing Californian company Anduril Industries’ YFQ-44A Fury Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA). The company says the YFQ-44A is designed to gain and maintain air superiority in highly contested environments through a focus on autonomy…
For the first time, a US soldier, not a trained aviator, has planned and executed real-world missions in military exercises with Lockheed Martin Sikorsky’s Optionally Piloted (OPV) Black Hawk helicopter, powered by MATRIX™ technology. In partnership with the Joint Personnel…
Just seven weeks after the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) announced the award of a $1.7 billion contract for the manufacture and support of an undisclosed number of Ghost Shark Extra Large Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (XL-AUVs), Anduril has officially opened its…
Boeing has delivered the 13th P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance and anti‑submarine aircraft to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) at the same time as the first RAAF P‑8A has been inducted into an upgrade program. The RAAF’s 14th and final P-8A is scheduled…
Washington DC-based Lockheed Martin has announced a US$50 million ($76.4 million) investment in fellow US company Saildrone, a global leader in maritime autonomous systems. This strategic collaboration will deliver commercially available Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV) equipped with lethal, combat-proven defence…
