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 USAF has awarded contracts to two companies to develop next-generation jet engines for small Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA). It has selected a joint venture by GE Aerospace and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc, who will receive a contract…
Defence has announced a $310 million payment for the acquisition of long‑lead items from the United Kingdom for the reactors to be used in the RAN’s first two nuclear‑powered SSN-AUKUS submarines. The submarines themselves will be built at Osborne in…
The defence industry ministers of Australia and the UK, Pat Conroy and Luke Pollard, have agreed that Australia will host British engineers and scientists at Woomera to watch ongoing trials of the MQ-28A Ghost Bat Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) and…
The Royal Navy’s nuclear-powered attack submarine HMS Anson has arrived at HMAS Stirling's Fleet Base West for the first‑ever maintenance activity on a UK nuclear‑powered submarine in Australia. This marks a historic step in Australia’s readiness to operate and maintain conventionally‑armed, nuclear‑powered…
Defence has now placed orders worth some $5 billion for 26 Landing Craft Medium and Heavy for the Australian Army. These contracts, signed with Defence’s strategic Western Australian shipbuilder, Austal Defence Australia, represent a major investment in Australia’s sovereign shipbuilding capability,…
Defence has awarded Austal Defence Shipbuilding Australia Pty Ltd (Austal Defence Australia) a $4 billion contract to build eight Landing Craft Heavy (LCH) under the Strategic Shipbuilding Agreement (SSA) with the Commonwealth of Australia that was signed last year. Construction…
During last year’s Australian-led EX Maritime Big Play, AUKUS military operators and technical experts tested and employed approximately 30 next-generation capabilities in a tactical setting, said Defence in a media release issued this month, working with industry in real time…
European missile house MBDA has signed a contract with the French Direction Générale de l'Armement (DGA) for the development and production of the ONE WAY EFFECTOR - LIGHT (OWE-L), a long-range loitering munition designed to saturate enemies’ defences. The manufacturing…
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) LongShot program has successfully completed a series of technical milestones, moving its air-launched uninhabited vehicle – recently designated the X-68A – closer to flight testing, says DARPA in a media release. The…
Defence is seeking co-funding proposals of up to $500 million from the private capital market to invest in Australian businesses developing advanced defence and dual‑use capabilities. Depending on the finance industries’ responses Defence may co-invest on a dollar-matching basis, meaning…
