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
Diversified US industrial giant Honeywell has been awarded a contract of undisclosed value by the BlueForge Alliance to deliver the AUKUS Submarine Industrial Base (SIB) pilot program in Australia. For this program Honeywell says it will establish an enhanced security…
Geelong-based Hanwha Defence Australia (HDA), Visionary Machines, an Australian SME leader in high-fidelity passive 3D spatial sensing, and Hanwha Systems Corporation have signed an MoU to explore collaborative development opportunities. The MoU was signed at the Avalon Air Show in…
Sydney based Thales Australia has integrated Dedrone by Axon into its Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle (PMV), adding a Counter-Uncrewed Aerial System (C-UAS) capability to the evolving Bushmaster design. Successful testing was completed near Thales Australia’s Bendigo facility, where the Bushmaster…
The three AUKUS partners have released the trilateral AUKUS Maritime Innovation Challenge 2025. The AUKUS Maritime Innovation Challenge 2025 seeks innovative solutions from industry and research institutions around the world to provide capability with a focus on undersea communications and…
The Australian government handed down its budget for 2025-26 on the evening of 25 March and then almost immediately called a General Election which will be held on 3 May. Until then, the government is in ‘caretaker’ mode so is…
The Australian Army has taken delivery of its first two of a planned 42 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HiMARS) launcher vehicles, less than two years after the purchase was announced. Defence will spend $1.6 billion to equip the Army’s…
The RAAF’s AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) is now ready for operational use after an operational test conducted by a RAAF F/A-18F Super Hornet off the coast of California last month, supported by the United States Navy. Defence has allocated some…
In the same week that the US Air Force selected Boeing’s F-47 is its 6th generation Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) crewed fighter, California-based Anduril Industries is showing a model of its 6thgeneration YFQ-44 Fury autonomous Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA)…
The US Department of the Air Force has selected Boeing as winner of the contract for the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Platform, the F-47. This will marking a major milestone in the…
The Australian Department of Defence will acquire additional Mk48 Heavyweight torpedoes under a $200 million agreement with the United States. Designed for both Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) and Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW), the additional stocks of MK48 ADCAP (Additional Capability) MOD7 CBASS…
