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
The Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator’s (ASCA) Emerging and Disruptive Technologies (EDT) program has signed 21 contracts with Australian quantum and counter disinformation technologies companies as part of an investment of over $60 million with Australian universities and industry partners. This investment…
The Pentagon has announced that additional autonomous capabilities have been selected for accelerated fielding as part of the Replicator initiative, announced last year by US Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks. This second tranche, or Replicator 1.2, will include systems in…
UK-based research firm QinetiQ has officially opened QinetiQ Laboratories in Mawson Lakes, South Australia. The facility, known as QLabs, will help enable the rapid development of software and prototypes that support the Australian Defence Force. QLabs includes a Software Development…
US online publication Breaking Defense reports that the two companies selected by the US Air Force to develop Collaborative Combat Aircraft designs have completed what amounts to Critical Design Reviews of their competing designs. This milestone enables California-based Anduril Industries…
Lockheed Martin has successfully integrated its S-band AN/TPQ-53 Multi-Mission Radar (MMR) with Anduril Industries' Lattice Command and Control (C2) environment to detect and track Uncrewed Air Vehicles (UAVs). The Q-53 MMR, which has a reported maximum range of around 60km,…
The Australian government has signed a tripartite agreement between the Australian Submarine Agency, ASC and BAE Systems to commence preparatory work for the build of Australia’s SSN-AUKUS submarines. This agreement is essentially an enabler of the planned Joint Venture which…
Adelaide-based BAE Systems Australia has secured a $160 million contract for the delivery of its Passive Radio Frequency Sensor (PRS) into Norwegian company Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace’s global Joint Strike Missile (JSM) program. BAE Systems Australia is the sole global…
Australia’s Defence Trailblazer has signed a strategic partnership with the University of Adelaide and Adelaide-based QuantX Labs, aimed at advancing cutting-edge quantum technologies. This partnership, building on four years of collaboration, will focus on advancing atomic clock technology with the…
Brisbane-based Boeing Defence Australia (BDA) has received Military Production Organisation Approval (MPOA) from Australia’s Defence Aviation Safety Authority (DASA) for the local manufacture of aerospace parts and components. This approval will speed up parts availability ADF aircraft while driving down…
Australian Defence Magazine has joined The Australian and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in reporting that two contenders – ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries – have been shortlisted to provide the RAN’s eleven planned General-Purpose Frigates, worth up…
