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 begun work on building a four-bay aircraft hangar adjacent to RAAF Base Edinburgh in northern Adelaide. This will facilitate the specialist maintenance of the Australian Defence Force’s 20 Boeing 737-variant military aircraft. Construction has already commenced and is…
The US Air Force’s hypersonic test vehicle BOLT-1B has conducted a successful flight in northern Norway. It was launched from the Andoya Space Sub-Orbital launch site and reached an apogee of 154km. The term hypersonic refers to speeds greater than Mach 5,…
Brisbane-based Black Sky Aerospace has rebranded as a defence and technology company, Black Sky Industries. It aims to greatly accelerate the production capability of sovereign scaled rocket motor and defence systems. The company is Australia’s only sovereign developer and supplier…
A system that could help locate and rescue astronauts stranded in remote areas on the moon, and a spacecraft with world-leading AI capabilities be backed by South Australian Government funding. The two South Australian start-ups behind the innovations – Safety…
Gold Coast based Ship design group Seatransport has secured the approval and exclusive licence for Class-approved closed-cell foam for commercial vessels. After 6 years’ research with Strathclyde University and an undisclosed European foam manufacturer on overcoming toxicity and flammability issues…
Washington DC firm AeroVironment (AV) has been awarded a 5-year Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract for the US Army’s Directed Requirement (DR) for Lethal Unmanned Systems (LUS). The contract, from Army Contracting Command-Aberdeen Proving Ground, is for Switchblade loitering…
The US Navy’s Strike Planning and Execution program (PMA-281) and Aerial Targets program (PMA-208) have partnered with US firm Shield AI to integrate autonomy and artificial intelligence software into the Kratos BQM-177A sub-sonic aerial target. Under the agreement Shield AI…
Northrop Grumman Corporation has been awarded the sole-source US$200 million ($295 million) Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) Site 2 contract by the US Space Force. The second site, located in the United Kingdom, is scheduled to be operational in June…
Californian company Joby Aviation has demonstrated autonomous airborne logistics operations during the US Air Force’s EX Agile Flag 24-3. It used a fully autonomous Cessna 208B Grand Caravan equipped with a suite of technologies developed by Xwing’s autonomy team, acquired…
The Royal Australian Navy’s first three Hunter-class frigates will be fitted with Rohde & Schwarz’s NAVICS Integrated Communications System and classified material control technology under a contract with BAE Systems Maritime Australia. NAVICS will be the central nervous system of…
