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
EM Solutions has successfully completed the first of its system level tests for a transponder developed for Telesat’s LEO 3 demonstration satellite. Launched on 18 July, the satellite payload features a flexible bent pipe architecture featuring both Ka and V-band…
The Australian government and BAE Systems Australia will establish a new Aircraft Coating Facility (ACF) at the company’s Williamtown Aerospace Precinct, near Newcastle in Australia. This will see a specialised paint applied to the aircraft to ensure they are virtually…
The Australian Government is investing more than $1.7 billion in three new classes of weapon for the ADF, and a further $1.6 billion in HiMARS launchers. Missiles, including the PrSM hypersonic weapons to be launched from the HiMARS system, will…
Southern Launch and the Koonibba Community Aboriginal Corporation will begin work on Australia’s first permanent commercial sub-orbital space launch facility after planning consent was granted for the Koonibba Test Range in country South Australia. “The development of permanent, world-class facilities…
The US Space Development Agency (SDA) has awarded Lockheed Martin a firm-fixed price agreement valued at approximately US$816 million ($1.26 billion) to build 36 Tranche 2 Transport Layer (T2TL) Beta satellites. T2TL is part of an overarching plan to strengthen deterrence with…
Adelaide-based Inovor Technologies has been selected for Lockheed Martin’s Mentor Protégé Program (MPP), becoming the third Australian Small-to-Medium Enterprise (SME) to do so. Inovor is a member of the team assembled by Lockheed Martin Australia for Joint Project 9102; the…
Adelaide-based Neumann Space has signed partnership agreements with Queensland firm Gilmour Space Technologies and with UK company Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL). Neumann Space has developed the world-leading Neumann Drive propulsion system which uses solid metallic propellant and is today…
Brisbane-based Hypersonix Launch Systems Ltd and San Diego-based Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. have announced an exclusive teaming agreement to offer the Hypersonix DART AE Hypersonic System into the US market, integrated with Kratos’ Zeus family of solid rocket…
San Diego-based Shield AI, an American defence technology company, and Port Melbourne-based Sentient Vision Systems have announced a strategic collaboration aimed at delivering a Wide Area Motion Imagery (WAMI) solution for the US Department of Defense (DoD), the ADF and…
US prime contractor Northrop Grumman Corporation has opened a new Hypersonics Capability Center (HCC) in Elkton, Maryland to produce advanced propulsion solutions that can power hypersonic missiles beyond Mach 5. The HCC is the first US facility designed specifically for…
