US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a sweeping military overhaul on Wednesday, appointing Elon Musk alongside defense entrepreneur Palmer Luckey and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to lead a new Pentagon initiative called Project Meridian. Speaking to junior officers and enlisted leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, Hegseth outlined plans to slash 20 percent of the military’s generals and admirals, establish a new drone command, and map out future combat capabilities over a 120-day review period.
Project Meridian and Future Military Technology
Project Meridian is designed to identify the weapons, technologies, and systems the United States military will require on future battlefields extending from under the Earth to beyond the moon, according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Pentagons technology chief Emil Michael will oversee the project, with Musk, Luckey, and Gingrich serving as co-leads alongside a broader team drawn from government, industry, academia, and policy sectors.
None of the three co-leads has served in the U.S. military. Musk moved to Canada as a teenager in part to avoid compulsory military service in South Africa, a detail he has previously stated. The appointments place Musk and Luckey in influential positions to shape future defense needs while their respective companies compete for billions in Department of Defense contracts.
Musk’s SpaceX holds numerous Pentagon agreements, including a $4.16 billion Space Force contract awarded in May to build satellites designed to track and target airborne threats and an additional $2.29 billion contract for a military satellite communications network. Luckey co-founded Anduril Industries, a defense technology firm that develops autonomous weapons systems, which secured a Marine Corps contract worth up to $642 million in 2025 for counter-drone technology.
Command Restructuring and Leadership Cuts
Alongside the technology initiative, Hegseth announced structural changes aimed at reshaping the armed forces. The Pentagon plans to create a new Autonomous Warfare Command led by a four-star general to scale robotic and uncrewed systems across the military. This emphasis on uncrewed technology follows drone deployments in the war against Iran, where U.S. forces have relied on hundreds of expensive interceptor missiles to counter low-cost attack drones.
Hegseth also confirmed plans to eliminate 20 percent of the military’s generals and admirals by January 1, 2027. The proposed cuts have drawn sharp opposition from lawmakers. Democratic Senator Mark Kelly criticized the reduction during statements reported by AP, arguing that the policy removes a generation of good leaders in the defense and would take a generation to recover from.
The announcements mark a return to government advisory work for Musk, who previously led the efficiency agency Doge before stepping down in May of the prior year amid policy disputes with President Donald Trump. Wednesday’s address at Quantico is part of an ongoing series of defense state-of-the-force speeches delivered by Hegseth, who has previously utilized the platform to remove inclusion and diversity measures and institute screening programs for testosterone deficiency among male soldiers.