Musk to co-lead Pentagon project examining the future of warfare
Elon Musk is set to return to an official advisory role with the US government by co-leading Project Meridian, a Pentagon initiative examining future warfare and military capabilities. The project is expected to draw on private-sector, academic and policy expertise and submit its findings within 120 days.
Elon Musk will return to an official advisory role with the US government as a co-leader of a Pentagon project examining the future of warfare, according to Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. Hegseth announced Project Meridian in a speech at the Quantico military base, describing it as an effort led by leading American experts to study how war may develop. He said the project would use innovators, senior leaders and technologists to identify future military needs and capabilities.
Musk will lead the project alongside Palmer Luckey, the 34-year-old co-founder of defence technology company Anduril Industries, and Newt Gingrich, the 83-year-old former Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives. Project Meridian will include selected private-sector leaders and subject-matter specialists from innovation, academia and policy. Hegseth said the project’s remit was to look creatively at the future and determine which domains the United States needed to master.
The Pentagon chief directed the project to complete and submit its findings within 120 days. The supplied material does not identify the project’s specific study areas, recommendations or the role individual participants will play beyond their designation as co-leaders. Musk previously served as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, before leaving the position in May 2025.
His departure followed a public dispute with President Donald Trump over the president’s spending legislation. Musk had supported Trump’s return to the White House, but their relationship later deteriorated publicly. The source says Musk subsequently resumed financial support for Republican causes, including donations to candidates and conservative political groups.
The new Pentagon role brings Musk back into an official government advisory setting after that break. Hegseth said Project Meridian would draw on expertise outside government as well as senior officials, but the material provides no further details about its structure, budget or implementation of any eventual recommendations.
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