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
At EX Valiant Shield 24, Arlington-based Raytheon demonstrated a simulated complex missile engagement leveraging the US Army's Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor, or LTAMDS, and Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System, IBCS, launching the US Navy's…
Charles Darwin University has become a member of the Queensland Defence Science Alliance (QDSA), a node of DSTG’s Australian Defence Science and Universities Network (ADSUN). ADSUN brings together research institutes and industry to find solutions for defence problems. Charles Darwin…
Defence will invest over $100 million acquiring 110 ‘drones’ from two Australian manufacturers of lightweight surveillance and reconnaissance Uncrewed Air Systems (UAS) and augment the ADF’s existing stock of UASs. The Quantum-Systems Vector 2-in-1and SYPAQ Systems CorvoX were trialled along…
Australian soldiers will be equipped with US company AeroVironment’s Switchblade 300 Block 20 precision loitering munition, providing a critical combat edge and adding to drone capabilities available to the Australian Defence Force (ADF), says the Department of Defence. The first Switchblade…
The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and its partners have successfully conducted the first flight of the Hypersonic Test Bed (HTB) designed to provide a common platform for hypersonic experiments. According to San Diego-based company Kratos the HTB was Kratos’s…
The Australian Government will invest at least $2 billion over the next decade to bolster Australia’s cyber capabilities with the announcement of a strategic partnership between Defence’s Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Australia to deliver…
French company Safran Electronics & Defense is developing a new solution for transmitting and receiving optical communications by laser. This innovation will enable armed forces to share information at very high speed with no risk of jamming or interception, the…
The first cohort of skilled submarine workers from Port Adelaide-based ASC Pty Limited has departed for Pearl Harbor in Hawaii for comprehensive sustainment training on nuclear-powered submarines. Around 30 skilled ASC workers are the first to deploy to the Pearl…
Construction has begun officially on the first Hunter-class Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) frigate, marking another significant step in delivering the RAN’s enhanced lethality surface combatant fleet. The piece of steel cut during the commencement ceremony forms part of the under-structure support for…
US defence giant Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) and UK defence contractor Babcock have formed a new joint venture, H&B Defence headquartered in Canberra to accelerate the development of critical sovereign Australian capability for the AUKUS conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine program.…
