WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Sept. 30 that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Anduril founder Palmer Luckey and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will co-lead Project Meridian, a 120-day Pentagon study on the future of warfare, during a “State of the Force” speech at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia.
The study will map the trajectory of future warfare, identify critical capability gaps and propose actionable solutions aligned with the 2026 National Security Science and Technology Strategy, according to a Pentagon memo. The findings are due Jan. 28, 2027, and are expected to be released in an unclassified report with a classified annex.
Hegseth said the project was deliberately futuristic and would consider wars the United States cannot afford to fight in 2030, 2050 and 2100. He said it was not meant to produce new strategies or policies.
“The future of warfare is not about developing new strategies or new policies,” Hegseth said. “We already do that. Rather, its purpose is to creatively look to the future and identify the domains that we must conquer and capabilities we must master.”
The three co-leads will work under Emil Michael, the Department of War’s chief technology officer, alongside a wider team drawn from industry, academia and the policy world. The Pentagon has not said how many people will take part or whether the co-leads will be paid. The co-leads held their first meeting immediately after the speech in a secure facility at the base, according to The Hill.
Musk’s SpaceX holds billions of dollars in U.S. military contracts for rocket launches and satellites, and Luckey’s Anduril builds drones, counter-drone systems and other autonomous weapons for the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy. The Pentagon has not said how it will handle potential conflicts of interest. The appointment is Musk’s first official advisory role in the Trump administration since he left the Department of Government Efficiency, Axios reported.
Project Meridian was one of several initiatives Hegseth announced in the same speech. He also unveiled plans for a new four-star command called Autonomous Warfare Command, or AUTOWARCOM, with “service-like authorities built to scale autonomous and robotic capabilities across the joint force.” As an interim step, the autonomy Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager will become “Project Agincourt,” led by Defense Innovation Unit head Owen West and Max Strasiser, with the goal of standing up the new command by October 2027, pending congressional approval.
Hegseth also said the Pentagon has cut 10 percent of generals and admirals across the force and reduced the overall number of general officer slots by an additional 10 percent. He previously ordered the removal of at least 20 percent of four-star jobs inside the active component.
Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Hegseth has “taken countless reckless, partisan actions” and called on him to provide oversight committees with written information before further cuts. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., called the approach to force cuts “draconian.”
Sources: Breaking Defense · Defence Blog