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Hegseth names Musk, Luckey and Gingrich to lead a Pentagon study of future war needs
October 1, 2026
Pete Hegseth says Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey and Newt Gingrich will co-lead Project Meridian, a 120-day Pentagon study of future warfare, alongside a new autonomous warfare command.
Pete Hegseth leads the Pentagon, which has spent recent years building counter-drone capabilities, including Joint Interagency Task Force 401, as drones reshape the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used his State of the Force address at Quantico on Wednesday to put Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey and Newt Gingrich at the head of Project Meridian. CNBC reports the group will spend 120 days on how war may change over years and decades and which capabilities US forces will want, working under Emil Michael, the department's technology chief. Fox News carries the same account and adds that Hegseth argued the best forecasters of future conflict are not all inside the Pentagon. Axios frames the appointment as Musk's return to the Trump orbit, and CNBC notes that the three co-leads lack military service.
The outlets agree that the appointment came with a second announcement: Autonomous Warfare Command, a four-star combatant command meant to scale robotic and autonomous systems across the force. Reuters reports the new command and sets it against the drone war in Ukraine, where it cites an estimate that drones cause about 70% of Russian casualties. “Today we need both quality and quantity,” said Hegseth. The command is described as a body to oversee drone technology. Fox News reports that the same speech turned on the press; Hegseth said, “It’s sick. It’s a national betrayal. It’s treason, actually.”
Fox News raises possible conflict-of-interest questions, since executives whose firms compete for defense work will help choose what the military pursues; CNBC lists SpaceX contracts of $4.16 billion and $2.29 billion and an Anduril counter-drone award worth up to $642 million. The names, the 120-day span and the new command are corroborated across outlets. What the study will recommend, and how the command will operate, are still developing.
Still developing
The account of what is known about how Pentagon made some progress on countering drones was still coming in at the time of this draft. The findings of Project Meridian have yet to be laid out.
How settled the reporting is
Sources
- Reuters — Pentagon creates 'Autowarcom' to expand AI and drone capabilities | Reuters
- cnbc.com — Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey and Newt Gingrich to help Pentagon with warfare initiative, Hegseth says
- foxnews.com — Elon Musk lands new Trump admin role shaping future of American warfare
- Axios — Musk returns to Trump world for Pentagon war study
Toggle read the full reports of 3 of the 5 outlets counted on this event. The other 2 are counted from their headlines and opening sentences.