Tim Mahon
Almost all companies have ambition. For some, the sky is the limit: others have somewhat loftier ambitions. The EPE group of companies, which started at ground level, is now leading a major national undertaking to put Australian robotic expertise on the Moon, stopping off at various other venues en route.
Warwick Penrose, the Group CEO, saw a gap in the market fifteen years ago. Provide exactly what the operator needs, in the context of EOD, mine clearance, counter threat and CBRN operations. The outcome? A results-oriented enterprise that has trusted relationships with over 30 OEMs and has grown to a £35 million business over that time. Under the banner ‘Trusted to Protect,’ EPE offers everything from intervention equipment (over 470 uncrewed platforms sold to more than 8 nations), to counter-UAS solutions and counter-CBRN, all supported by specialist training and OEM-accredited through life support – to name just some of the group’s lines of business.
Such expansion – and the relatively rapid move into market adjacencies that appears to characterize EPE’s progress – does not come without targeted effort. The company is now 67 strong, the great majority of whom are ex service personnel from the Australian, British, US and New Zealand forces. Penrose’ own background includes a period as a Royal Australian Engineer Officer specialised as a Mine Warfare and High Risk Search Instructor and in IEDD, EOD, CBRNE and Improvised Nuclear Device Disposal. He helped raise Australia’s first CBRNE Counter Terrorism Disposal Capability, which played an instrumental role in securing the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
That legacy permeates the company and what it offers to a growing audience of operators. There is a “can do” attitude that persists through the various international offices to protect and enable operators on the front line. When confronted with the challenge of how to access existing but restricted test and evaluation facilities, EPE’s response was simplicity itself: it built its own Military Training, Evaluation, Certification and Systems Assurance facility, which now provides advanced diagnostic and training services to a range of government agencies.
Uncrewed systems form a fundamental part of the company’s current and future activities, underlying the spirit of finding novel and effective means to counter hazardous threats while protecting individual operators and teams to the maximum extent possible. At Eurosatory in Paris this month, for example, the company’s presence will centre on the SENTRI system, that integrates data from a range of sensors and effectors on diverse uncrewed and static platforms providing actionable intelligence to Battle Management Systems (BMS) including ATAK.
But that expertise in robotics is not limited to terrestrial, airborne or even maritime environments. EPE leads the consortium managing the ROO-VER mission – a bold Australian national effort to design, build and remotely operate a rover on the Moon. Exploring space, building sovereign capability and, above all, inspiring the next generation of Australian engineers, entrepreneurs and explorers. Which pretty much describes everything EPE stands for. This brief and all too general an outline does little more than scratch the surface of a fascinating company on which Defence Alternatives anticipates reporting in much greater depth in the coming months.
Headline image: The ROO-VER programme will remotely operate an Australian-built uncrewed vehicle on the surface of the Moon. (EPE Group)
