Pentagon appoints Elon Musk to co-lead Project Meridian on future warfare domains

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that Elon Musk will co-lead Project Meridian, a Pentagon effort to forecast future warfare domains and the capabilities the U.S. military will need to dominate them. The initiative, which also includes defense-technology entrepreneur Palmer Luckey and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, will operate under the direction of the department’s chief technology officer, Emil Michael.

"The best forecasters of future conflict do not solely reside inside the Pentagon," Hegseth said during his State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico. "There are obvious biases and risks to asking ourselves to both ask the questions and answer them."

Project Meridian is slated to have 120 days to map the trajectory of wars, domains and technologies, after which it will release a public report accompanied by a classified annex. The mandate covers a broad range of environments, from subterranean to space, and focuses on identifying the domains the military must master and the capabilities it should develop.

Musk, whose company SpaceX is a major Pentagon contractor, and Luckey, founder of defense-technology firm Anduril Industries, bring industry experience to the planning process. Their involvement has raised questions about potential conflicts of interest, given that their companies compete for defense contracts.

The announcement was part of a larger set of reforms presented by Hegseth, including the creation of an Autonomous Warfare Command to scale autonomous and robotic capabilities across the joint force, and new career pathways for personnel focused on autonomous systems.

Hegseth emphasized that the initiative aims to anticipate technological transformations before they become operational gaps, positioning the U.S. military to maintain strategic advantage in emerging domains.