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
Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States have finalised the establishment of an export licence-free environment, which Defence says will unlock billions of dollars of investment and cutting red tape for Australian industry and its AUKUS partners. Delivering on…
Adelaide-based PMB Defence Engineering (PMB) has signed a £13 million ($25 million) contract with the UK Ministry of Defence (UK MoD) to test and qualify a new battery system for the UK’s nuclear submarines. This contract is a continuation of…
Adelaide-based KBR has achieved the Operative Date contractual milestone for the Capability Life Cycle Management of the Royal Australian’s Navy’s (RAN) Amphibious and Replenishment Ship fleet. Under the new National Defence Strategy (NDS) the amphibious ships in particular have become…
Queensland Based Sea Transport Group’s sister company Sealease Pty Ltd has signed a 3-year charter for a 73m version of their proven and mature Stern Landing Vessel (SLV) designs, supporting the United States Marine Corps (USMC) for a 3 year…
Adelaide-based KBR has been selected as the ADF’s industry partner to sustain Aggregated Monitoring and Control (AM&C) of Satellite Earth Stations. The company will deliver sustainment services that ensure the ADF has a more modern, assured and resilient satellite communications service.…
The RAN destroyer HMAS Sydney has conducted a successful firing of a Standard Missile 6, or SM6, representing a step-change in the lethality, air and missile defence, and long-range strike capability of Navy’s surface combatant fleet. The SM6 will be progressively deployed…
Under the AUKUS framework Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States have furthered their co-development of Resilient and Autonomous Artificial Intelligence Technology (RAAIT) by sequencing AI algorithms to support target detection and decision-making. Autonomous systems are one of the…
Spiral Blue's Space Edge One detection and research platform. Image: Spiral Blue To neutralise the threat posed by near-peer adversaries and maintain a strong regional deterrence posture, three Australian partners are developing a sovereign counter-hypersonic surveillance capability, with the space…
Defence is accelerating production of the Ghost Shark by part-funding with Anduril Australia a manufacturing facility in Australia that will see the first production variant of the Ghost Shark Extra Large Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (XL-AUV) available by the end of…
The US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has successfully demonstrated the Lab’s new Quicksink weapon in a trial held during Ex RIMPAC 24 in Hawaii. A US Air Force B-2 bomber sank the 39,000-tone decommissioned amphibious assault ship USS Tarawa…
