Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has named Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk, Anduril founder Palmer Luckey and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich as co-leaders of Project Meridian, a new Pentagon effort to examine how the United States should fight future wars.
Hegseth described the project as an initiative “led by America’s best minds to study the future of warfare.” The three men will jointly head the work.
The announcement was made on 30 September 2026. It has not yet been accompanied by a detailed public charter, budget or timeline, but it fits a pattern of Hegseth drawing Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and conservative defence thinkers into Pentagon planning.
Musk’s companies already sit at the centre of US military space and communications capability. SpaceX launches satellites for the Space Force, operates the Starlink constellation used by Ukrainian and other forces, and has won multi-billion-dollar contracts for missile warning and tracking. xAI’s Grok model has been approved for use on classified and unclassified Department of War networks. Hegseth has repeatedly praised Musk’s “question every requirement, delete the dumb ones and accelerate” approach as a model for Pentagon acquisition.
Luckey co-founded Anduril Industries, a defence technology firm that builds autonomous systems, drones and software for the US military and allies. The company has become one of the most prominent “new prime” contractors challenging traditional defence giants.
Gingrich, Speaker of the House from 1995 to 1999, has long written and spoken on defence reform, space policy and the need to overhaul Pentagon bureaucracy. He publicly backed Hegseth’s nomination and has argued that the department required a “complete overhaul” focused on lethality rather than process.
Project Meridian appears intended as a high-level study group rather than an operational command. Hegseth framed it as looking “to the future in domains the DoD must conquer.” It sits alongside other Hegseth initiatives, including the reconstitution of the Defense Policy Board, a new Homeland Defense Board he will chair, and an “Arsenal of Freedom” push to accelerate weapons production and artificial intelligence.
Critics are likely to raise familiar objections: Musk’s companies hold large defence contracts while he advises on strategy; Luckey’s Anduril stands to benefit from any shift toward autonomous systems; and Gingrich is a partisan political figure rather than a serving official. Supporters will argue that conventional Pentagon processes have been too slow and that bringing in people who have already built systems at speed is the point.
No official Department of War press release with full terms of reference had been posted at the time of writing. Further details on membership, reporting lines and whether the group will produce classified or public recommendations are expected in coming days.
By A.Ikechukwu
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