Elon Musk is taking on a new role in the Trump administration, this time helping the Pentagon determine what weapons and technology American troops will need to fight the wars of the future.War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday that Musk will co-lead Project Meridian, a new Pentagon initiative tasked with looking years and even decades ahead to identify emerging domains of warfare and the capabilities the U.S.military will need to dominate them.Musk, the former leader of the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), will lead the effort alongside defense tech billionaire Palmer Luckey and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich under the direction of War Department Chief Technology Officer Emil Michael.EXCLUSIVE: HEGSETH TO DOUBLE CUTS TO GENERALS, ADMIRALS IN MAJOR PENTAGON SHAKEUP"The best forecasters of future conflict do not solely reside inside the Pentagon," Hegseth said during his State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico.
"There are obvious biases and risks to asking ourselves to both ask the questions and answer them."Elon Musk (Getty Images)Hegseth said the initiative would begin immediately and he would meet with Musk, Luckey and Gingrich in a secure facility just 200 yards from the stage following his speech.Project Meridian will have 120 days to "ruthlessly map the trajectory of wars, domains and technologies," culminating in a public rollout of its findings and a classified annex.Hegseth described a sweeping mandate that stretches "from under the Earth to beyond the moon." Rather than developing new military strategies or policies, the group will seek to identify "the domains that we must conquer and capabilities we must master" and focus on "discovering, developing, and fielding" weapons and systems that could be needed by future generations of American troops.Musk and Luckey enter the effort with firsthand experience developing technology for the U.S.military.
Musk's SpaceX is a major Pentagon contractor,...