The Pentagon faucets Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey to assist resolve what the navy ought to do subsequent

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used a “State of the Force” handle on Wednesday to launch a brand new effort to review how warfare could also be fought as tech advances quickly. It’s being known as Project Meridian.

Elon Musk, Anduril founder Palmer Luckey, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will co-lead the undertaking. They’ll be joined by others from fields corresponding to academia and coverage, all working underneath the path of Defense Department CTO Emil Michael. Their job is to “research the battlefields of the long run” and the “weapons and applied sciences warfighters” might use on them, stated Hegseth in a letter saying the undertaking.

The group (it’s unclear how many individuals will probably be on it) can have 120 days to submit its findings and suggest “actionable options to start out creating, testing, and fielding” superior expertise meant to maintain America a dominant navy energy, per Hegseth.

Hegseth additionally introduced an Autonomous Warfare Command on Wednesday to hurry up the event and deployment of autonomous techniques and drones. One curious element within the Pentagon’s announcement is that the research will come by a partner organization, however the announcement doesn’t say who that group is or who leads it.

After TechCrunch reached out to the Defense Department for remark, the division referred us to a press release, saying it had “nothing additional to offer past the Secretary’s feedback.”

Musk’s and Luckey’s involvement is hardly shocking. Musk, particularly, has reportedly renewed shut ties with the administration and lately had lunch with the president — alongside different prime AI leaders — to debate the future of AI. The undertaking seemingly marks his first official return to the administration’s fold since he left the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) final 12 months.

Musk’s SpaceX launches satellites for the U.S. authorities and operates a satellite tv for pc community that helps nationwide protection and safety missions. Luckey’s protection tech firm, Anduril, in the meantime, creates autonomous navy techniques and drones and was lately awarded authorities contracts to supply long-range missiles and semi-autonomous fighter aircraft and to provide {hardware} and integration for the Army’s mobile intelligence system.  

The Trump administration has made superior navy expertise a precedence, in each growth and buying, and has seemed to Silicon Valley-approved corporations to assist make this occur. Critics may argue that placing Musk and Luckey on Project Meridian instantly aligns with their enterprise pursuits, since they might be looking for options their corporations already promote.