US Defense Secretary announces 'Meridian Project' to study future war technologies

Washington, Sept 30 (KUNA) – U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced today the launch of a new initiative under his department, dubbed the “Meridian Project,” aimed at studying the future of warfare and identifying the technologies and weapons that the U.S. Armed Forces will need.

In his annual State of the Forces address, delivered at a Marine Corps base in Virginia, Hegseth said the Meridian Project would be co-led by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Anduril Industries co-founder Palmer Luckey, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, under the supervision of Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Dr. Heidi Shyu.

He added that the 120-day initiative aims to harness the insights of prominent innovators, leaders, and technical experts in the United States to anticipate future conflict domains and shape strategies for battlefield superiority over the coming decades. Hegseth clarified that the military initiative does not seek to develop new strategies or policies, but rather focuses on discovering, developing, and deploying weapons to meet future challenges.

Last April, the U.S. Department of Defense established a new military command for “autonomous warfare” to deploy advanced unmanned systems throughout Latin America, marking a first of its kind in military command structure.

The Meridian Project comes as part of the Pentagon’s efforts to keep pace with technological transformations in future wars, emphasizing the integration of autonomous and robotic systems into the armed forces while maintaining human presence in command and control operations. (End) A.M.M. / R.J.