Defence Trailblazer’s programs and partners have been recognised in the 2026 Defence Teaming Centre Defence Industry Awards. Two finalists nominated in the Collaboration category include the DINAMIC Program (Adelaide University and UNSW), and a Defence Trailblazer R&D collaboration led by industry partner Praetorian Aeronautics.
Cisco, its Australian partner Data#3 and researchers from Adelaide University have successfully wrapped up a two-year collaborative project aimed at strengthening sovereignty and cyber resilience in connected vehicles and other military platforms.
Defence Trailblazer’s impact was on full display at the Australian Defence Science, Technology and Research (ADSTAR) 2026 summit, highlighting the significant impact of the Australian Government's investment in sovereign defence capability, innovation, commercialisation and workforce development.
Ocius Technology and UNSW Canberra are collaborating to develop advanced mathematical modelling and autonomous control systems for the Bluebottle Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) fleet to optimise its performance and power usage.
Lockheed Martin Australia is making an impact in systems-level R&D architecture through collaborations with UNSW and Adelaide University researchers . Delivered through Lockheed Martin Australia’s Advanced Systems & Technologies R&D team, the six projects are building advanced capabilities in hypersonics, space systems and artificial intelligence (AI) to inform their ‘Southern Shield’ anti-access, area-denial R&D strategy.
Acacia Systems is advancing Onyx, its passive sonar automatic capability, to deliver enhanced tracking performance across a wider range of challenging acoustic environments. The collaborative project with UNSW represents over 25 years of investment in research to develop a critical sovereign capability.
Dragonfly Thinking has delivered a Defence Trailblazer-supported project to advance the company’s Artificial Intelligence decision-support platform, in collaboration with Adelaide University’s Australian Institute for Machine Learning.
Adelaide University PhD student Lachlan Pointon is carrying out atomic and laser physics research in the Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS). His Defence Trailblazer-supported industry PhD with QuantX Labs focuses on developing the next generation of portable rubidium optical atomic clocks. “Development of the next version of portable optical atomic clocks is vital to Australia’s defence industry and critical infrastructure,” said Lachlan.