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 Australian Government will acquire a major share in Australian defence radar systems manufacturer, Canberra-based CEA Technologies Pty Limited, in July this year in a deal reported to be worth nearly $500 million. The deal to secure the leading-edge capability…
Defence will spend $4.1 billion to acquire more long-range strike systems as well as manufacturing longer-range munitions in Australia, delivering on the priorities of the Defence Strategic Review (DSR). A key recommendation of the DSR is the need to accelerate and expand the…
ESA's OPS-SAT nanosatellite. Image: Thales In an ethical hacking exercise in Europe, four Thales cybersecurity researchers managed to introduce malicious code into a European Space Agency (ESA) demonstrator satellite. The team was taking part in the third CYSAT, a European…
Joby Aviation will deliver its first two of nine electrically powered aircraft to the US Air Force at Edwards Air Force Base by early 2024. The news follows four USAF test pilots’ flights in a Joby aircraft, becoming the first…
Sydney-based Quickstep Holdings Ltd has signed a $2.34 million follow-on contract with fellow Sydney company Carbonix for the production and supply of 40 composite airframe shipsets for their latest long-range Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS). This will allow Carbonix to fulfil…
Adelaide-based Neumann Space will deliver its world-leading propulsion system, the Neumann Drive®, to Colorado-based CisLunar Industries, a designer and manufacturer of Modular Space Foundries, to help progress a U.S. Space Force-funded project that will create a circular propulsion ecosystem, the…
The Australian government has released its long-awaited Defence Strategic Review, commissioned in August 2022, in the form of an unclassified version titled simply National Defence. It is presented as the most significant re-casting of Australia’s defence policy and posture since…
The publication of this book couldn’t be timed better: it came out shortly after the announcement that the RAN would acquire three to five ex-US Navy Virginia-class submarines and then eight SSN-AUKUS boats, and shortly before ANZAC Day this year.…
Adelaide-based Fleet Space Technologies has signed a $6.4 million contract with Australia’s Defence Space Command. The contract will see Fleet's next-generation of Centauri commercial satellites used to develop and demonstrate a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communications system focused on…
USCGC Charles Moulthrope (WPC 1141) and USCGC John Scheuerman (WPC 1146) transit the Strait of Hormuz with a US Navy L3 Harris Arabian Fox MAST-13 USV. Image: US Navy An Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) from U.S. 5th Fleet has transited…
