The Pentagon has named Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey and Newt Gingrich to a 120-day initiative that will identify weapons, technologies and military capabilities the U.S. may need in future wars. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the project, dubbed Project Meridian, during a Wednesday address at Marine Corps Base Quantico.
The Pentagon is tapping Musk, Luckey and Gingrich to help map out the capabilities the U.S. military will need in wars years and decades from now, Hegseth said Wednesday. The initiative, called Project Meridian, will spend 120 days examining how warfare could change and what the military must master to keep a technological edge.
Hegseth frames the project around future capabilities
According to Hegseth: "Project Meridian, the future of warfare, is not about developing new strategies or new policies." Instead, he said its purpose is to identify the domains the military must conquer and the capabilities it must master. Hegseth announced the initiative during a "State of the Force" address to junior officers and enlisted leaders at Quantico.
Pentagon technology chief Emil Michael will oversee the project, with Musk, Luckey and Gingrich serving as co-leads alongside a broader team from government, industry, academia and the policy world. None of the three co-leads has served in the U.S. military; Musk has said he moved to Canada as a teenager partly to avoid compulsory military service in South Africa.
Their companies hold billions in Pentagon contracts
The appointments put Musk and Luckey in a position to help identify the military's future technology needs while their companies compete for billions of dollars in Defense Department business. In May, the Space Force awarded SpaceX a $4.16 billion contract to build satellites that track and target airborne threats, days after awarding the company a separate $2.29 billion contract for a military satellite communications network.
Luckey's Anduril, which builds autonomous weapons and other military technology, won a contract worth up to $642 million in 2025 from the Marine Corps for counter-drone systems. The announcement is part of a broader Pentagon push into autonomous warfare, which also includes plans for a new four-star Autonomous Warfare Command aimed at scaling autonomous and robotic systems across the military.
Anduril, SpaceX and Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Source: CNBC
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