SEA 5000 and SEA 1180 Industry Briefing

Rubber Ducky attended the Industry Briefing in Sydney, hosted by the Department of Defence at SMC Conference Centre in Sydney on the 9th of December.  Whilst a good opportunity to catch up with other friends and colleagues in the industry, the official briefing was disappointingly short, and finished essentially before morning tea at about 10:am.  Official news from both the SEA 5000 (Future Frigates) and SEA 1180 (Offshore Patrol Vessel) essentially amounted to an outline of the timetable for the Competitive Evaluation Process (CEP) to finish.  Due to the government being under contract with three shortlisted suppliers who were invited into the CEP, Defence couldn't engage in any discussion of actual vessel details or capabilities with any of the 100+ representatives of small-medium enterprises who showed up for the day.  The only substantive news was that the SEA 1180 vessel was now determined to be an Off-The-Shelf purchase with "minimal modification" in order to meet Australian regulatory requirements.  The role is essentially only 'constabulary', which was reinforced when a question from the floor asked whether there was still room for modular, multi-mission systems.  "Not in these 12 vessels" was the answer, with emphasis being placed on the constabulary role.  

This is disappointing news for Rubber Ducky, since providing a version of our SCV as an offboard system for a multi-role Offshore Combatant Vessel (as SEA 1180 originally envisioned) was a likely entry point for our product in the Australian Market.

We will persist in exploring other routes through the various (and newly re-organised) hubs, portals, centers, funds etc that exist for Australian industry and its innovations.

Pacific 2015 Pitch-Fest

Rubber Ducky Defence will be presenting a pitch at the Pacific 2015 Pitch-Fest!  The Pacific 2015 Maritime Expo is Australia's premier naval and maritime trade-fair.  Aidan Morrison, the company's founder will be competing if a field of 30 other presenters from DSTO, industry, and academia to give the best pitch 3-minute for a new concept or innovation to an audience of potential collaborators, customers, and venture capitalists.  If you will be at the Pacific 2015, please head to the Innovation Theatrette, Exhibition all 3, at 3pm on the 6th, 7th or 8th of October.

US Patent Granted

We're excited to announce our first full patent has been granted in the United States of America.   The patent is No. 8973513, and is titled: Recovering capsized watercraft incorporating rapid filling and emptying ballast systems.

CTD Grant Submission

In June 2013 Rubber Ducky Defence was invited to submit a detailed proposal for the Concept Technology Demonstrator grant program.   This was indicated a high level of interest in our Small Combat Vessel from Capability Development Group and DSTO.  We were selected as part of approximately 25, from a group of over 75 applicants to progress to this stage.   A fully costed and time-tabled progam to build and demonstrate an SCV, with core capabilities including self-righting, semi-submersing, and launching and recovering heavy payloads too and from water was submitted on 27 August 2013.  We were informed in December 2013 that we were not successful in attaining the full grant, and await a formal debrief on 13 March 2014.