WASHINGTON — The Pentagon plans to open a third outpost of its Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) office in the near future, the department's top weapons buyer said Wednesday.

Speaking at the Common Defense conference in Washington, Frank Kendall, the Pentagon's acquisition head, said: "You can anticipate there will be at least one new office opened over the next few months" for the DIUx program.

"We're iterating as we go but we're having some very good, initial success," Kendall added about the group. 

Kendall did not elaborate on the next location, but Austin, Texas, is a likelihood. The city was one of two innovation hubs that Secretary of Defense Ash Carter visited during a spring trip. The other hub visited on that trip was Boston, Massachusetts, which since became home to the second DIUx office.

REGISTER NOW: CyberCon is coming November 16.Announced in April 2015, DIUx was originally conceived as an office in Silicon Valley that would be able to bring outside technical expertise back to the Pentagon. However, the group was slow to deliver results, and in May of this year Carter announced "DIUx 2.0," which included bringing in new leadership and launching the Boston office.

If DIUx were to expand to a fourth location before the end of the year, another likely move would be to base the office near Washington, D.C. Northern Virginia has become a tech hub in its own right, and having an office close to the Pentagon could pay off politically as the office attempts to survive under a new administration.

About Aaron Mehta

Aaron Mehta was deputy editor and senior Pentagon correspondent for Defense News, covering policy, strategy and acquisition at the highest levels of the Defense Department and its international partners.

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