The Defense Department on Tuesday opened the second office of its technology “startup”—the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental—in Boston to increase outreach between the Pentagon and the tech community. The office includes leaders from organizations such as MIT who are focused on identifying new technologies for DOD and on engaging with existing startups to encourage them to focus on national security. “For those interested in foreign policy and national security, there are lots of interesting challenges and problems to work on,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in unveiling the new office on Tuesday. Chief Science Officer Bernadette Johnson, former chief technology officer at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratories and military lead for Air Force Reserve Col. Mike McGinley, will lead the office. Like the Silicon Valley office, which was established last year, it will include three teams: a venture team to identify existing commercial technology the Pentagon could use, a foundry team to identify coming technologies that could require additional development or adaptation for the military, and an engagement team to introduce innovators to national security challenges.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.