{
  "id": 11052522,
  "title": "The Pentagon taps Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey to help decide what the military should do next",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/30/the-pentagon-taps-elon-musk-and-palmer-luckey-to-help-decide-what-the",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-09-30T23:08:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "TechCrunch",
    "slug": "techcrunch",
    "url": "https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/30/the-pentagon-taps-elon-musk-and-palmer-luckey-to-help-decide-what-the-military-should-do-next/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a new project called Project Meridian on Wednesday to study how future warfare may look with advancements in technology. The project will be led by Elon Musk, founder of Anduril, Palmer Luckey, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. They will be joined by experts from academia and policy under the direction of Defense Department CTO Emil Michael. The team will have 120 days to submit findings and propose solutions for the development, testing, and deployment of advanced technology to maintain America's military dominance. The Pentagon also introduced an Autonomous Warfare Command to accelerate the creation and use of autonomous systems and drones. The involvement of Musk and Luckey is not unexpected, as Musk has recently reconnected with the administration and Luckey's company, Anduril, has been awarded government contracts for various military systems. The project aligns with the Trump administration's priority on advanced military technology development and procurement, often turning to Silicon Valley-approved companies for assistance.",
  "summary": "Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth just launched a 120-day study on the future of warfare, led by Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey, and Newt Gingrich, and while it makes sense given their ties to the administration, critics could point out that Musk's and Luckey's companies already sell the kinds of technology the study is likely to recommend.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 4,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The New Stack",
        "title": "Elon Musk says space will soon hold nearly all compute. Google is still finding out if its chips can work there.",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/28/elon-musk-says-space-will-soon-hold-nearly-all-compute-google-is",
        "published": "2026-09-28T16:22:00.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Techmeme",
        "title": "DOD taps Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich for Project Meridian, a 120-day study of capabilities the US may need in future wars (Luke Fountain/CNBC)",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/30/dod-taps-elon-musk-palmer-luckey-and-former-house-speaker-newt",
        "published": "2026-09-30T20:35:00.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "The Verge",
        "title": "Elon Musk’s Grokipedia has a ‘newly refreshed’ design",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/01/elon-musks-grokipedia-has-a-newly-refreshed-design",
        "published": "2026-10-01T00:23:45.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}