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Elon Musk is co-leading a Pentagon effort to map out which weapons and technologies the U.S. military will need for future wars. Meanwhile, his rocket company, SpaceX, has collected more than $8 billion in defense contracts so far in 2026.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tapped Musk on Sept. 30 to run the effort, called Project Meridian: The Future of Warfare. His co-leaders are Anduril Industries co-founder Palmer Luckey and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Their findings are due Jan. 28, 2027.
Three government watchdog groups sued the Defense Department on Nov. 2. They argue the panel was created illegally and is filled with executives who could profit from its advice, and they want a federal judge to halt its work.
How will Elon Musk help write the Pentagon’s weapons wish list?
Hegseth’s memo tasks the group with charting where warfare is headed, finding gaps in what the military can do and proposing fixes. A Pentagon spokesperson said the study covers a 10- to 20-year horizon, across every domain from underground to space.
In his announcement, Hegseth said the project is “not about developing new strategies or new policies.” Instead, it will identify the capabilities the military must master. The deliverable is a public report of up to 30 pages, plus classified annexes.
Emil Michael, the Pentagon’s chief technology officer, oversees the project. MITRE, a nonprofit that runs federally funded research centers, manages the day-to-day work. The panel has 21 members, including Oracle executive Safra Catz, and has met at least twice behind closed doors.
Why are watchdogs suing over Elon Musk’s Pentagon role and SpaceX’s $8 billion in contracts?
The plaintiffs are Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Public Citizen and the Project On Government Oversight (POGO). They say Project Meridian is a federal advisory committee. Under a 1972 law, such panels must meet in public, announce themselves in the Federal Register and keep records.
The suit also targets who sits on the panel. It says 19 of the 21 members come from the private sector. SpaceX’s contracts this year are mostly for building and launching military satellites. Luckey’s company, Anduril, has won about $25 billion in Pentagon contracts, according to the plaintiffs.
The groups want the court to strike down Hegseth’s memo and bar the panel from meeting until it complies with the law. They also want its records made public and the Pentagon blocked from acting on its advice.
The Pentagon said in October that MITRE, not the co-leaders, is responsible for the analysis and recommendations, and that it applies conflict-of-interest safeguards. Filing the suit doesn’t pause the project, so the January deadline stands unless a judge rules otherwise.