The Pentagon wants three outsiders to tell it how America fights its next war - and gave them four months to figure it out.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth commissioned a study called Project Meridian on Wednesday, according to the Department of War. Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey and Newt Gingrich will co-direct it. Their job: identify the technology the US military needs to fight future wars. The findings are due by January 28, 2027, exactly 120 days after the announcement.
That is a tight window for a question the Pentagon usually spends years chewing on. It also hands outsized influence over future weapons priorities to two tech figures and a former politician, instead of career military planners or the usual contractor-heavy advisory boards.
A four-month sprint to define how America fights its next war says less about strategic patience than about who set the deadline.