Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey and Newt Gingrich to help Pentagon: Hegseth

By Alejandra García • September 30, 2026

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth gives a State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico on Sept. 30, 2026 in Quantico, Virginia.

Alex Wong | Getty Images

The Pentagon is tapping Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, defense technology entrepreneur and Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to to identify the military capabilities, technologies and weapons the U.S. may need in future wars, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday.

The initiative, dubbed Project Meridian, will spend 120 days looking years and decades ahead at how warfare could change and what capabilities the U.S. military will need to maintain a technological edge.

“Project Meridian, the future of warfare, is not about developing new strategies or new policies,” Hegseth said. Instead, he said, its purpose is to “identify the domains that we must conquer, and capabilities we must master.”

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