Washington—Elon Musk will once again serve in a formal role as an advisor to the US government. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced his appointment as co-director of Project Meridian, a new initiative designed to study the future of warfare and the technologies that could define the battlefields of the coming decades.
Musk will lead the project alongside Palmer Luckey, founder
of the military technology company Anduril, and Newt Gingrich, former Speaker
of the House of Representatives. The group will work under the coordination of
the Director of Technology at the Department of Defense, Emil Michael, and will
include specialists from academia, technology, and public policy.
According to the Department of Defense, Project Meridian
will last 120 days and will analyze potential future combat scenarios, from new
domains of warfare to the weapons and systems the US Armed Forces might need.
Hegseth's stated goal is to identify the capabilities needed
to achieve what the Department of Defense calls "absolute technological
dominance" on the next-generation battlefield. The final report will
include recommendations for developing, testing, and deploying advanced
technologies.
The project will cover a particularly broad technological
spectrum, including artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, drones,
robotics, space technology, and other emerging military capabilities. The final
report is scheduled for January 2027 and will have a public version,
accompanied by a classified appendix.