Elon Musk, the tech magnate, will have a leadership role in a new Pentagon program aimed at examining the future of warfare and military technologies, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday.
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During his remarks before military personnel at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, Hegseth said Musk and drone entrepreneur Palmer Luckey will be involved in the initiative’s leadership group, called Project Meridian.
The Pentagon expects the program to present its findings within 120 days. According to Hegseth, the goal is to creatively examine future developments and identify areas where the U.S. military should invest, as well as the capabilities it should build.
One of the program’s central focuses will be autonomous warfare, which includes the use of weapons systems and artificial intelligence capable of identifying targets and carrying out strikes with limited or no human intervention.
“We must look ahead to achieve technological and military dominance on the battlefield in the coming decades,” Hegseth said.
The defense secretary also announced the creation of a new structure, the Autonomous Warfare Operations Command, which will be led by a general and tasked with expanding the use of autonomous and robotic systems across all U.S. armed forces.
The use of artificial intelligence in autonomous weapons has become a highly controversial issue following the recent clash between the Pentagon and the American AI company Anthropic.
The company has refused to allow its technology to be used for autonomous weapons or mass surveillance of American citizens, while the Pentagon has insisted it must be able to use artificial intelligence for any lawful purpose.
Furthermore, the Pentagon described Anthropic as a risk to its supply chain.
Elon Musk is also deeply involved in the field of artificial intelligence and robotics. His company xAI develops the Grok system, while Tesla, led by Musk, is expanding development of Optimus humanoid robots.
Project Meridian was just one of the initiatives presented by Hegseth. He also confirmed plans to reduce the number of senior officer positions by about 20%.
He also announced an initiative that would allow major U.S. military installations to produce their own electricity in the event of a disruption in supply from the civilian grid.
Hegseth said President Donald Trump wants to create a new military base in the U.S. and called on states to submit proposals to host a force of 15,000 to 25,000 troops.
