Updated
Updated · Fox News · Sep 30
Musk Co-Leads 120-Day Pentagon War-Tech Review as Hegseth Launches Autonomous Warfare Command
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Sep 30

Musk Co-Leads 120-Day Pentagon War-Tech Review as Hegseth Launches Autonomous Warfare Command

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 30

Summary

  • Project Meridian will start immediately with Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey and Newt Gingrich co-leading a 120-day Pentagon review of the weapons and technologies U.S. troops may need for future wars.
  • Pete Hegseth said the group, directed by CTO Emil Michael, will map warfare domains "from under the Earth to beyond the moon" and produce both a public report and a classified annex.
  • SpaceX contractor Musk and Anduril founder Luckey bring direct defense-tech experience, but their roles could also trigger conflict-of-interest scrutiny because their companies compete for Pentagon business.
  • The review is part of Hegseth's broader military overhaul, which also created a four-star Autonomous Warfare Command and new career tracks for "autonomous warfighters" across the services.
  • At his State of the Force address at Quantico, Hegseth framed the push as a bid to prevent the U.S. military from falling behind the next technological shift.

Insights

Can a 120-day Pentagon project really predict warfare from underground to cislunar space—and who benefits if its leaders are defense contractors?
Will Autonomous Warfare Command make the U.S. military faster and smarter, or lock it into an AI-driven future before the rules are clear?