Today in our editorial series – Towards 3% R&D – Turbocharging Australia’s Innovation Effort – Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy explains how the government has built new structures to link defence innovation with commercial outcomes, building the defence industrial base in the process. A strong and sovereign innovation, science and technology sector is critical to…
The first in a series of AUKUS Innovation Challenges, the AUKUS Electronic Warfare Innovation Challenge, has been launched today through the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA). The first AUKUS Challenge will seek innovative solutions to shared electronic warfare challenges from industry and research institutions in Australia, the United Kingdom and United States. ASCA will lead…
There is no shortage of commitment’s from both sides of politics for Defence to get behind industry as a pillar of national security, and from the government, a new Defence Industry Development Strategy. In this edited extract from a speech delivered to the Illawarra Shoalhaven industry development conference, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy lays out…
The Assistant Minister for defence Matt Thistlethwaite has spruiked the government’s response to the Defence Strategic Review in the field of defence innovation, including through joint work with AUKUS partners the US and the UK. The DSR found that more support is needed for innovation, faster acquisition and better links between Defence and industry to…
The Defence Science and Technology Group has revealed that Professor Emily Hilder will be the substantive Head of the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA) charged with boosting defence innovation. Professor Hilder brings a wealth of leadership and STEM experience to the job of building up ASCA, which is part of a significant reshaping of defence…
Aerial drones will be testsed as part of a federal government initiative aimed at supporting innovation and delivering capabilities for the Australian Defence Force (ADF). A total of 11 companies have signed contracts to provide a prototype of a drone, known as an uncrewed aerial system (UAS), for demonstration in April along with a production…
The Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA), part of the department of defence, announced on Monday that it is seeking industry and research partners to help co-design projects for its first mission. ASCA was launched on July 1, and aims to “connect and streamline the defence innovation system by focusing on defined missions, solving the most…
The recently established Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator in the Department of Defence is on the hunt for its most senior staff – its head and an assistant secretary. They will lead the organisation which took over disparate defence innovation efforts including the Defence Innovation Hub and Next Generation Technologies Fund. While these were considered successful,…
Engineering and systems integration company SYPAQ’s unique cardboard drones are in service in Ukraine, and even took part in a recent bombing raid of Russian airports according to some media reports. The company’s Corvo Precision Payload Delivery System (PPDS) can launch, fly up to 120km and land by itself, delivering supplies or providing a low-cost…
By Peter Roberts The Department of Defence has called for information and ideas leading to the development of a small, capable and genuinely sovereign drone system to be developed and manufactured in Australia. The Department issued a Request For Information (RFI) which is an ‘industry engagement activity’ for the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA)’s first…
