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
A Thales-supplied Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) has taken a significant step towards autonomous mine-hunting operations during trials in the UK. The USV, Royal Navy Motor Boat (RNMB) Apollo, completed a demanding series of Royal Navy and industry open water assurance…
Sydney-based DroneShield and Los Angeles-based Epirus, Inc have completed integration of DroneShield’s multi-sensor DroneSentry system with Epirus’ Leonidas High-Power Microwave (HPM) counter-electronics/counter-UAS effector. The integration of these two systems allows for a fully integrated C-UAS system that can track multiple threats and…
Northrop Grumman Corporation’s MQ-4C Triton Flying Test Bed (FTB) has demonstrated persistent long-range targeting during this year’s EX Northern Edge 2023 in Alaska. This demonstration highlighted Triton’s potential to enhance joint, distributed maritime operations, and further support sea-control in contested…
A US Army Research Laboratory-led project team investigating quantum constructs to revolutionize precision weapons has been named winner of the US$45 million 2024 Applied Research for Advancement of Science and Technology Priorities, or ARAP, program award, the US Department of…
OK, so Defence has acknowledged that Innovation is important enough that it should get some resources - how do you go about doing it? EX2 - For Defence Innovators has published the first in a series of articles about Defence…
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…
