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
Defence has released an Invitation to Register (ITR) Interest in fuze development and manufacture. It is seeking a lead industry partner (together with their SME network and supply chain) to undertake Australian domestic prototype design, development and manufacture of two types…
The Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator, ASCA, has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Mission Syracuse, a two-stage search for technologies to enhance Defence’s Counter Small Uncrewed Aerial Systems (C-sUAS) capabilities. The Mission is encapsulated in a simple problem statement:…
Californian company Stratolaunch has completed its second hypersonic flight and recovery with the Talon-A2 (TA-2) fully autonomous vehicle. This took place in March and follows successful first hypersonic flight of Talon-A2 in December 2024 and confirmed the reusability of the…
The US Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and the US Joint Counter-small UAS Office (JCO), have announced a new solicitation for Low-Collateral Defeat (LCD) options supporting the Replicator 2 initiative that can be scaled and integrate into existing Counter Small Unmanned Aerial…
The UK Ministry of Defence has declared operational its first-of-a-kind StormShroud autonomous Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS), based on lessons learned in Ukraine. The UK MoD says StormShroud will fly alongside crewed aircraft in frontline missions to knock out or blind…
The US Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), in collaboration with US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), seeks to identify solutions for scalable, cost-effective Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) detection, identification, and tracking. Submissions are due by 20 May, 2025. This challenge aims to enhance…
California-based Anduril Industries has launched Pulsar-L (Pulsar-Lite), a new variant in the Pulsar family of software-defined Electromagnetic Warfare (EW) systems. Built to deliver high-performance electromagnetic effects in a compact, portable design, Pulsar-L brings EW capabilities to the tactical edge, says…
The US Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has announced its ‘Blue Manufacturing Marketplace’ initiative which aims to qualify advanced commercial manufacturers and enable them to rapidly connect with cutting-edge technology companies. Through these relationships, it says, Blue Manufacturing seeks to develop…
The US Air Force has begun ground testing for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program, marking a major milestone in its effort to integrate autonomous systems into the future force. The CCA is an autonomous aircraft with fighter-like performance that…
Canberra-based Penten and UK company Amiosec have completed their merger, launching PentenAmio, a leading British-Australian provider of secure mobile communications as well as AI-enabled cyber defence and electronic deception technologies. The two business were awarded contracts after last year’s AUKUS…
