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
Swinburne University of Technology’s Aerostructures Innovation Research Hub, or AIR Hub, has launched the final round of its AIR Pass funding program Designed to fuel the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups in the Australian aerospace ecosystem,…
Australian company Hypersonix has been awarded a US patent for technology used in its SPARTAN scramjet design. US Patent Number US11639700B2 protects for close to 20 years some key features of an “Airframe integrated scramjet with fixed geometry and shape…
Canberra-based Skykraft has launched another prototype Air Traffic Management satellite stack. The payload was put into orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. This is the second launch for 2023, and part…
Sydney-based HEO Robotics’ Holmes Imager, hosted by Turion’s Droid-1, was also launched successfully into space from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The Holmes Imager is the world’s first commercial camera dedicated to non-Earth imaging and was manufactured entirely in Australia. The…
Paris-based Thales has announced its plan to buy cybersecurity firm Tesserent, one of Australia and New Zealand's largest cybersecurity companies, with a 2022 turnover of $185 million (circa €110 million) and about 500 employees across nine offices. The combination of…
Gold Coast-based Gilmour Space Technologies has signed a $52 million grant agreement with the Department of Industry Science and Resources (DISR) to advance the development and commercialisation of new space technologies in Australia. The funding will support a $156 million…
The Adelaide-based Defence Innovation Partnership (DIP), in collaboration with Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG), has launched a new $1.6 million Activator Fund. The Activator Fund, which calls for dollar-matched co-contributions from grant winners, will build on South Australia’s R&D strengths…
Adelaide-based Neumann Space, a specialist in-space electric propulsion manufacturer, has signed a contract with Danish micro satellite manufacturer Space Inventor that will enable it to gain greater access to space as part of its program of In-Orbit Demonstration (IOD). As…
Sydney-based Spiral Blue has announced what it says is a major breakthrough in the field of space-based Earth observation (EO). The company has released operational data from successfully running proprietary Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms in space. In April 2023 Spiral…
Hypersonix has taken delivery of a technology demonstrator version of its hydrogen powered SCRAMJET (Supersonic Combustion Ramjet) manufactured in High Temperature Ceramic Matrix Composites (HTCMCs) by a leading European aerospace manufacturer. HTCMCs are capable of resisting repeated cycles of extreme…
