Special Report: AUKUS partners test Australian EW systems in Maritime Big Play exercise

A PentenAmio official presents information about the company's EW system to Australiaʼs Vice Chief of the Defence Force Air Marshal Robert Chipman during an AUKUS ‘Maritime Big Playʼ exercise, which commenced in late 2025, at Fairbairn in Canberra. (Commonwealth of Australia)

Australia is accelerating the development of sovereign electronic warfare (EW) capabilities under the AUKUS partnership, with domestic industry playing a central role in advancing systems designed to operate independently and alongside UK and US forces.

Canberra‑based Advanced Design Technology (ADT) and Australian‑UK digital security firm PentenAmio, winners of the first AUKUS Pillar II EW Innovation Challenge in 2024, are among the companies leading these efforts. Both firms recently demonstrated EW systems during the AUKUS partnership's latest Exercise ‘Maritime Big Play' (MBP), recently conducted off Australia's east coast. PentenAmio was formed in April 2025 through the merger of Australian firm Penten and UK‑based Amiosec.

EW development is being pursued under AUKUS Pillar 2, also known as the Advanced Capabilities Pillar, which also covers areas such as quantum, cyber, undersea warfare, artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomy, and hypersonic and counter‑hypersonic systems. The Australian Department of Defence (DoD) said in February that the latest MBP event – which it said started in late 2025 – supported the development of these Pillar 2 capabilities, particularly in autonomous and EW technologies, with participation from both ADT and PentenAmio.

A DoD spokesperson told Janes that Australian-developed capabilities were at the forefront of this MBP event. “Through the MBP series, AUKUS partners have tested and refined their ability to jointly operate uncrewed maritime systems, share and process data, and provide real-time maritime domain awareness in support of decision making,” the spokesperson said.