Hegseth Unveils Project Meridian to Map the Future of Warfare

War Secretary Pete Hegseth launched a sweeping new effort on Wednesday to see decades down the battlefield, naming three outside heavyweights to help the Pentagon decide which wars and technologies America must be ready to fight.

Speaking at Marine Corps Base Quantico during his annual State of the Force address, Hegseth announced Project Meridian, a Pentagon initiative charged with looking further ahead than the military's own planners. The group has 120 days to "ruthlessly map the trajectory of wars, domains and technologies," with a public rollout of its findings to follow, along with a classified annex.

"The best forecasters of future conflict do not solely reside inside the Pentagon," Hegseth told an audience of top-performing enlisted troops and junior officers. "There are obvious biases and risks to asking ourselves to both ask the questions and answer them."

The effort will be co-led by Elon Musk, the entrepreneur who previously ran the administration's Department of Government Efficiency; Palmer Luckey, founder of the defense technology firm Anduril Industries; and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. All three will work under Emil Michael, the War Department's chief technology officer.

A 120-Day Sprint to See Over the Horizon

Hegseth said the work would begin immediately. He told the crowd he planned to meet with Musk, Luckey and Gingrich at a secure site roughly 200 yards from the stage as soon as his speech ended.

The mandate he described stretches "from under the Earth to beyond the moon." Rather than drafting new doctrine, the group is tasked with identifying the domains the military must command and the capabilities it must master, then pointing the department toward the weapons and systems future generations of troops will need.

Musk and Luckey arrive with unusual credentials. SpaceX has grown into a major Pentagon contractor, while Anduril has built a reputation on autonomous systems and advanced military hardware. That industry pedigree could also draw conflict-of-interest questions, since both men lead companies that compete for defense business.

Autonomous Warfare Gets a Command of Its Own

Meridian was only part of a broader overhaul Hegseth unveiled. He announced the creation of Autonomous Warfare Command, or AUTOWARCOM, a new four-star combatant command with what he called "service-like authorities" to scale robotic and autonomous capabilities across the joint force.

"We should have been thinking about Autonomous Warfare Command ten years ago," Hegseth said, describing Meridian as a way to anticipate the next technological transformation before the military falls behind.

The department also will phase in new occupational frameworks across the military branches, creating dedicated career paths for what Hegseth called a new generation of "autonomous warfighters." In all, he rolled out six initiatives, including a push to make U.S. bases and defense supply chains less vulnerable to outside disruption.

The setting itself marked a break from last year. For his first State of the Force address, Hegseth summoned generals and admirals from around the world. This time he filled Quantico with high-performing enlisted leaders and company-grade officers, calling them the military's "current and future leaders on the front lines," and said the address would become an annual opportunity to measure the force.

A Pentagon Rebuilt Around Speed and Technology

The announcements extend a pattern of the administration leaning on private-sector leaders for national strategy, reaching from Trump's onstage call with Nvidia's Jensen Huang to a widening circle of technology figures advising the Pentagon.

For a department still managing a costly conflict with Iran and rising competition with China, the shift toward autonomy carries real stakes. Hegseth framed the new command and career tracks as a way to keep the edge that America's rivals are working to erase.

He also saved some of his sharpest language for the military's culture and for the news media, telling the audience the force had shed what he described as distractions.

"We are no longer the woke department or the weak department," Hegseth said. "No fatties, no trainees, no weirdos, no beardos, no wimps, no radicals. Just warriors."

What to Watch Next

Project Meridian now has 120 days to deliver its findings, and the public report and classified annex that follow will offer the clearest signal yet of how far the department intends to go in rebuilding around autonomy.

The immediate test is execution. Standing up a new four-star command and seeding it with dedicated career paths will require the Pentagon to move money and people through a system built for deliberation, not speed.

Adversaries and partners alike will be watching the 120-day clock. What Meridian recommends, and what the department actually buys, builds and fields, will shape how the U.S. military fights for years to come.