The Australian British Defence Catalyst (ABDC) will bring the top tier of defence, industry, policy and research for a unique three days of special briefing and thought leadership, running just ahead of the Farnborough Airshow.

With work on strategic reviews and investment plans in both Australia and the UK, the Catalyst will focus on real traction for industry engagement on AUKUS and beyond, and resilience across defence and national security in these testing geopolitical times.

The Aims and Objectives of ABDC 2026 are:

• Unpack strategic context as maritime disruption, great-power competition push security and resilience to the top of agendas.
• Understand the changing character of conflict.
• Support AUKUS Pillar I through progress on workforce, submarine industrial capacity, infrastructure, and community buy-in.
• Interpret defence investment through Australia’s National Defence Strategy and Integrated Investment Program and the UK Defence Investment Plan.
• Strengthen UK–Australia defence industry collaboration through sovereign capability, allied supply-chain integration, and SME participation.
• Advance cooperation in AUKUS Pillar II technologies including autonomy, cyber, artificial intelligence, electronic warfare, space and undersea systems.
• Build understanding of national resilience across defence, space, energy, infrastructure, and technology sectors.

The speakers confirmed so far are:

• Luke Pollard MP, Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry; MP for Plymouth Sutton & Devonport
• Al Carns DSO OBE MC MP, Minister for the Armed Forces 
• Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton KCB ADC FREng, Chief of the Defence Staff
• General Sir Gwyn Jenkins KCB OBE ADC RM, First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff
• General Sir Rob Magowan KCB CBE ADC RM, Commander Cyber & Specialist Operations Command
• Air Marshal Stephen Chappell DSC CSC OAM, Chief of Air Force
• Major General Greg Novak AM, Commander, Australian Space Command
• Jeremy Pocklington CB, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence
• His Excellency the Hon Jay Weatherill AO, Australian High Commissioner to the UK
• Sir Stephen Lovegrove GCMG KCB, PM’s Special Rep on AUKUS
• Lord Mark Sedwill GCMG, Chair, IISS and former NSA
• Avril Jolliffe, National Armaments Director - International, Ministry of Defence
• Shimon Fhima MBE, Director – Lethality, Ministry of Defence
• The Hon Ambassador Joe Hockey (Ret.), Former Australian Ambassador to the United States; Founding Partner & President, Bondi Partners
• Dr Brendan Nelson AO, President, Boeing Global
• The Rt Hon Dame Penny Mordaunt DBE, Chair, SubSea Craft
• John Cunningham, Director Innovation, Ministry of Defence
• Major General Hugh Meggitt AM CSC, Head, Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator
• Keith Beckett CBE, Technical Director and Deputy Chief Executive, Submarine Delivery Group
• Kylie Wright, Head Workforce, Industry and Supply Chain, Australian Submarine Agency
• Fred Thomas MP, Member for Plymouth Moor View and Defence Committee Member
• Air Vice-Marshal Paul ‘Rosey’ Rose MBE, Director Commissioning, National Armaments Director Group, Ministry of Defence
• Leah Grantham, Acting CEO, Babcock Australasia
• Corry Neale, CEO Australia, QinetiQ
• Matt Opie, CEO, Defence SA
• Kathryn Essex, Head of the Security and Defence Industry ANZ, British High Commission Canberra
• Dr Maureen Haverty, Principal, Investment, Seraphim Space
• Brigadier Grant Mason DSC, DSM (Retd), Managing Director, Empower Advisory
• Prof Matthew McGilvray, Dept of Engineering Science, Senior Fellow in Hypersonics, University of Oxford
• Dr Greta Nabbs-Keller, Senior Advisor Defence, Space, and National Security, Strategic Partnerships, The University of Queensland
• Prof Richard Morgan, Founding Director of The University of Queensland's Centre for Hypersonics
• Mark Osborne, General Manager UK, NIOA
• Tom Tizard, General Manager Australia, MBDA
• Mike Kerrigan, Managing Director – Asia Pacific, Cambridge Aerospace
• Matt Hill, CEO, Hypersonix Launch Systems
• Troy Duggan, CEO, C2 Robotics
• Michael Irwin, CEO Breaker Industries
• Jeremy Tasker, Senior Managing Director/Executive Director, Macquarie Group

To register your interest in attending, please contact Jennifer Cramond at jcramond@britishchamber.com