Musk to co-lead Pentagon study on the future of warfare

Elon Musk will return to an official advisory role in the US government by co-leading a Pentagon study on the future of warfare. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Project Meridian in a speech at the Quantico military base. He described it as an effort led by leading American thinkers to examine how warfare may develop and what capabilities the United States must acquire.

Musk will lead the project alongside Palmer Luckey, co-founder of defence technology company Anduril Industries, and Newt Gingrich, the former Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives. Hegseth said the initiative would draw on private-sector leaders and subject-matter experts from innovation, academic and policy communities. He said the project would use the experience of innovators, senior leaders and technologists as what he described as a distinctive American advantage.

The defence secretary said he had ordered Project Meridian’s findings to be completed and submitted within 120 days. The supplied material does not specify the study’s budget, staffing arrangements or the areas of warfare it will examine in detail. Musk previously served as head of the Department of Government Efficiency before leaving the role in May of the previous year.

He had publicly fallen out with President Donald Trump after supporting Trump’s return to the White House. The disagreement centred on the president’s spending legislation, although Musk later resumed donations to Republican causes, including contributions to candidates and conservative political groups. Hegseth said the project would look creatively at the future and identify the domains the United States must master.

The announcement gives Musk a formal role in the administration again, but the supplied material does not indicate whether he will hold a government position beyond his work on Project Meridian.