Elon Musk Returns to Co-Lead Pentagon's Project Meridian on Future Warfare With Palmer Luckey, Newt Gingrich

QUANTICO, Va. — Elon Musk is returning to government work as one of three co-leaders of a new Pentagon initiative to study the future of warfare, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday.

The effort, called Project Meridian, will be led by Musk, Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Over 120 days, the group will work to identify the technologies, weapons and military capabilities the United States will need to maintain an edge on future battlefields.

Hegseth unveiled the project during a "State of the Force" address at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, delivered to an audience of junior officers and enlisted leaders.

"I'm announcing Project Meridian, an effort led by America's best minds to study the future of warfare," Hegseth said. "Project Meridian will be co-led by three of our nation's best minds: Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey, and Newt Gingrich."

'From under the Earth to beyond the moon'

Hegseth said the project will focus on anticipating how warfare could evolve over the coming years and decades, rather than setting new policy.

"Project Meridian, the future of warfare, is not about developing new strategies or new policies," he said. Instead, he said, its purpose is to "identify the domains that we must conquer, and capabilities we must master."

He said the three co-leaders, working under Emil Michael, the undersecretary for research and engineering and the Pentagon's chief technology officer, "will be focused on discovering, developing, and fielding the weapons and systems that our children and our grandchildren will need in their lifetimes, without any creative limitations or restrictions, on any future battlefield, from under the Earth to beyond the moon."

The department said the review will cover every future warfighting domain, "from subterranean depths to the cislunar frontier," a reference to the space between Earth and the moon.

"It is futuristic on purpose," Hegseth said.

Rapid technological change

Hegseth framed the effort as a response to accelerating advances in military technology.

"We are witnessing rapid advances in artificial intelligence, autonomy, directed energy, robotics, biotechnology, among other critical high-tech areas," he said.

"Project Meridian will ruthlessly map the trajectory of wars, domains, and technologies to ensure this War Department, your War Department, dominates the future," he added.

The project will conclude with a public report of its recommendations, accompanied by a classified annex. Hegseth said the Joint Staff and every military service should be prepared to connect their own future warfare research to the initiative.

According to a department memo, Michael will commission the project through a partner organization, which was not named.

Part of a broader push

Project Meridian was one of six initiatives Hegseth announced Wednesday as part of a wider effort to reshape the military.

Before unveiling Meridian, Hegseth introduced a new Autonomous Warfare Command, a unit focused on scaling robotic, artificial intelligence and drone capabilities across the armed forces. He also named officials to lead an office overseeing the shift toward unmanned systems, an effort called Project Agincourt.

Other announcements included an Office of Religious Affairs reporting directly to Hegseth and plans to cut 20% of general and admiral positions by January.

Musk's return to government

The appointment marks Musk's return to a formal government role after his tenure leading the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, the cost-cutting initiative he ran during the early months of President Donald Trump's second term.

Musk's time at DOGE was marked by aggressive efforts to cut federal spending and staff, and at times by friction with Cabinet officials, including reported disagreements with Hegseth over civilian job cuts at the Pentagon.

Musk is the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX. SpaceX is one of the Pentagon's most important contractors, launching military satellites and providing communications services through its Starlink network.

Defense tech heavyweights

Luckey, the co-founder of defense technology company Anduril, has built one of the fastest-growing firms in the defense industry, specializing in autonomous weapons, drones and AI-driven surveillance systems.

Gingrich, a Republican from Georgia, served as Speaker of the House in the 1990s and has long been a voice on defense and futurist policy, including space.

Conflict-of-interest concerns

The selection of Musk and Luckey has raised questions about potential conflicts of interest. Both lead companies that compete for billions of dollars in Defense Department contracts, and under the new arrangement they would help shape the Pentagon's view of which future technologies it needs.

Critics say that could give the two executives influence over military priorities that directly affect their companies' business.

Supporters argue their experience building cutting-edge technologies makes them well suited to help the military anticipate future threats and adopt new capabilities more quickly.

The Pentagon did not immediately detail what ethics safeguards would apply to the co-leaders.

Hegseth said he planned to meet with Musk, Luckey and Gingrich later Wednesday. The group's findings are due within 120 days, followed by what Hegseth described as a "full public rollout."

The recommendations could shape future defense spending priorities and influence which technologies, from autonomous systems to space-based capabilities, receive investment in the years ahead.