Personnel

Brett Hill is the visionary founder of Praetorian Aeronautics, with over 20 years of international experience across Europe, the United States, and Australia. A high-achieving scholar and recipient of multiple academic scholarships, Brett has built a career at the intersection of advanced aerospace engineering and strategic defence innovation. His background spans both global defence Primes and agile startups, giving him a rare blend of technical depth, leadership capability, and commercial insight. Known for his relentless drive and commitment to excellence, Brett brings a unique capability to lead high-impact, mission-focused teams. His deep understanding of the defence market, combined with a lifelong ambition to build a world-class aerospace company, drives Praetorian’s mission. Under his leadership, Praetorian is redefining the standards of innovation, delivering next-generation defence capabilities with global relevance and strategic edge—shaping the future of autonomous aerial dominance.

Professor Hunjet is Chief Technology Officer at Praetorian Aeronautics and a senior Defence technologist with more than two decades of experience in resilient communications, adaptive networks, artificial intelligence, and autonomous systems. Prior to joining Praetorian, he held senior leadership roles within Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Group, including Program Leader for AI and Quantum Information Sciences, where he led national and international research programs applying AI, self organisation, and adaptive decision making to Defence communications and unmanned systems. He served as Australia’s Lead for the AUKUS Pillar II AI and Autonomy Working Group and Deputy Lead for Quantum Technologies. As Chief Technology Officer, Professor Hunjet leads Praetorian’s technology strategy and engineering execution, shaping the company’s next phase of capability development. His experience delivering advanced science and technology outcomes for Defence helps drive Praetorian’s mission to field next-generation, scalable, and mission-ready counter-autonomy capabilities for modern defence and security environments.

Dr Ashim Panta is an experienced engineering leader specialising in advanced Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) product development and certification. He has a proven track record in the design, manufacture, testing, and operation of diverse UAS platforms and recovery systems, driving end-to-end product development. His background also includes airworthiness certification of large UAS such as the MQ-4C Triton and MQ-9B Sky Guardian, supporting UAS integration into complex defence airspace environments. He holds a PhD in Aerospace Engineering from RMIT University, where his research focused on unsteady aerodynamics and flight vehicle design. Drawing on his extensive experience in engineering execution, test and evaluation and UAS certification, he brings a mission-focused approach to delivering next-generation aerial platforms.

Dr Jia Ming Kok is a leading expert in UAS swarm technologies and kinetic effectors, with extensive experience in designing autonomous aerial systems for modern defence operations. As Chief of Effectors at Praetorian Aeronautics, he leads the development of the Dagger program, advancing next-generation UAS capabilities for coordinated strikes and counter-UAS missions. Previously at Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Group, he led the Kinetic Effects Swarming team, developing UAS swarms capable of complex ingress manoeuvres and synchronised attacks. His broader work includes micro air vehicle design, biologically inspired UAS design, and swarm-based CBR threat detection systems. Jia has demonstrated these technologies at major trilateral defence exercises in Australia and abroad. He holds a PhD from the University of South Australia and a Bachelor’s in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of Adelaide. His expertise shapes the future of autonomous warfare systems.

Dr Massi Nardini is a Senior Flight Sciences Engineer with a decade of experience in Computational Fluid Dynamics, Fluid-Structure Interaction, and High-Performance Computing. He has developed advanced numerical methods and led simulations supporting frontier aerospace and propulsion technologies. At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Massi ran GPU-accelerated CFD simulations for turbomachinery on Frontier—the world’s first exascale supercomputer. He also contributed to the aerodynamic analysis of IDINTOS, an amphibious PrandtlPlane prototype, pushing the boundaries of novel aircraft design. At the University of Cambridge, he developed analytical tools for the Aviation Impact Accelerator, promoting evidence-based strategies for sustainable aviation. Massi earned his PhD from the University of Melbourne, focusing on reduced-order modelling and membrane wing control. He now applies this expertise at Praetorian Aeronautics, where he contributes to the development of next-generation, high-performance autonomous aerial systems and next-generation flight capabilities.