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
US defence technology company Anduril Industries has acquired Blue Force Technologies, a North Carolina-based developer of Autonomous Air Vehicle (AAVs) with an integrated aerostructures division serving a wide range of defence and commercial customers. This purchase will expand Anduril’s existing…
The US Government’s Department of the Air Force has selected JetZero for the next phase of a Blended Wing-Body (BWB) prototype aircraft project. The effort aims to mature BWB technology and demonstrate its capabilities, giving the department and commercial industry…
The first iLAuNCH Trailblazer project is under way to establish an advanced manufacturing facility in Adselaide that will design and deliver stronger more durable satellite and hypersonic vehicle structures using Additive Manufacturing (AM). Additive manufacturing, the process of creating an…
Electro Optic Systems (EOS) has demonstrated its Australian-made Directed Energy (DE) and kinetic counter-drone capabilities in a field environment, in front of an international audience of potential export customers from Europe, the Middle East, North America, and South East Asia.…
Robots that can remotely launch missiles or rockets are a step closer after two Australian companies proved the technology with a prototype demonstration. Queensland missile and rocket developer Black Sky Aerospace (BSA) has teamed with Funnel Web Systems (FWS), an…
Seven Australian companies have been awarded grants worth a total of $3.8 million under the Defence Global Competitiveness program and the Sovereign Industrial Capability Priority program. The Australian Government grants focus on building a sovereign Defence industry, directed towards strategic…
Boeing and its Australian subsidiary Insitu Pacific has demonstrated operational applications of its autonomous search, detection and classification capabilities at EX Talisman Sabre. The pioneering technology delivers near real-time intelligence to the warfighter. It combines Boeing’s machine learning, AI and…
Ten Lockheed Martin-built satellites have successfully been deployed into low-Earth orbit in support of the Space Development Agency's (SDA) Tranche 0 Transport Layer (T0TL) mission. SDA's T0TL is a proliferated low-Earth orbit (LEO) constellation that will demonstrate low-latency communication and…
Swedish defence sector prime Saab AB has acquired UK-based AI and autonomy specialist BlueBear Systems Group Ltd. BlueBear, which employs 65 staff at its Bedford, UK, base is a world-leading provider of AI-enabled autonomous swarm systems for complex defence and…
Thales Australia has signed a university-wide Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) to increase the impact of collaboration between the two organisations. The MoU builds upon the long-standing relationship between the two. By fostering ethical,…
