WASHINGTON: Tech billionaire Elon Musk is returning to an official advisory role in US President Donald Trump’s administration, co-leading a Pentagon project examining how warfare could evolve in the coming years.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth announced Project Meridian during a speech at the Quantico military base on Wednesday, describing it as an effort to bring together leading American innovators, senior officials and technology experts to study the future of warfare.
“We are leveraging a unique source of American advantage, one our adversaries do not have: our innovators, our senior leaders and our technologists,” Hegseth said.
Musk will co-lead the project alongside Palmer Luckey, the 34-year-old co-founder of defence technology company Anduril Industries, and Newt Gingrich, the 83-year-old former Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives.
Hegseth said Project Meridian would “creatively look to the future and identify the domains that we must conquer and capabilities we must master”. The initiative will bring together selected private-sector leaders and subject-matter experts from the technology, academic and policy sectors.
Hegseth has directed the project to complete its findings and submit its recommendations within 120 days. Musk previously held an official advisory role in Trump’s administration as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), where he was involved in efforts to reduce federal spending and cut government jobs. He left the role in May 2025.
His return comes as several of his companies maintain significant business ties with the Pentagon. SpaceX, one of Musk’s companies, is involved in building satellite networks for the Trump administration’s planned Golden Dome missile-defence system.
Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI also signed a deal this year allowing the US military to use its Grok chatbot on classified systems. Musk endorsed Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign and spent more than $250 million supporting Trump and other Republican candidates and causes. The relationship between the two men later deteriorated publicly over Trump’s spending legislation, but they have since reconciled.
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Musk has recently returned to a more visible presence around the White House. On Tuesday, he sat alongside Trump at a lunch attended by artificial intelligence executives and joined other technology leaders in signing a voluntary AI safety agreement that Trump described as “morally binding”.
Musk also attended a state dinner hosted by Trump for Chinese President Xi Jinping last week. In May, he travelled to Beijing aboard Air Force One as part of the business delegation accompanying Trump during the president’s state visit to China.
Musk has also resumed financial support for Republican political campaigns and conservative groups. According to tallies of Federal Election Commission filings, he has contributed at least $90 million towards the November midterm elections.
Project Meridian is expected to examine emerging technologies and identify military capabilities that the Pentagon believes will be important in future conflicts.
