Episode summary
Project Meridian Explained: Elon Musk's New Pentagon Role
Summary
The host discusses the Pentagon’s new Project Meridian, a group that will advise on the future of warfare with Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey, and Newt Gingrich involved. He says the effort is meant to study future battlefields, identify the weapons and technologies warfighters will need, and produce recommendations in January.
The host argues that the project fits a long-running concern that great powers lose when they keep fighting the last war. He says entrenched military-industrial incentives make it hard to shift away from legacy systems like tanks, even when those systems no longer match future threats. In his view, countries that fail to innovate end up defeated, while the modern version of conquest can also be commercial, with China gaining power through software, cars, and trade.
He says future conflict will center on drones, hypersonic missiles, autonomous systems, and battlefield software that lets platforms communicate with satellites, command centers, and each other. The host says China already has an early advantage in drone production and that the key questions now are scaling manufacturing, securing communications, and deciding what role the human war fighter should play.
Key takeaways
- The host says Project Meridian will study future battlefields, identify needed technologies, and deliver recommendations in January.
- The host argues that military organizations fail when they keep preparing for the last war instead of the next one.
- The host says China already has an early advantage in drone production and battlefield-scale manufacturing.
- The host says future warfare will depend on drones, hypersonic missiles, and software that links systems across the battlefield.
- The host views the Pentagon's move as an institutionalization of ideas he says he has been pushing for years.
Notable quotes
“study the battlefields of the future. No kidding. Number two, identify which weapons and technologies warfighters will need to harness to dominate in these environments”
“I've been very very concerned about here is the calcification of the entrenched military-industrial complex”
“Future wars are all about drones and hypersonic missiles”
“Our wars are built to fight. Most of our arsenal is built to win wars of the 20th century last century”
How the episode opens
Guten Morgan. This is Dolan Joven with Behind the Market. Happy Tuesday.
Today is Tuesday, October 6th. I am back from Germany and I had a great time. Met a lot of wonderful, smart people and was dying to come back.
So many big stories broke while I was away. I just kept thinking to myself, I can't wait to talk to you guys about it. One of them is a story that broke Wednesday.
Pentagon announces that Musk will advise the Pentagon on the future of warfare and he's going to be forming kind of a group with Anderal co-founder Palmer Lucky and House Speaker, former House Speaker Nuke Gingrich. And the name of this group is Project Meridian. Project Meridian.
And the group has three broad objectives very much in line with what we've been saying here for years, almost a decade now, almost since we gotten into this business, back into this business. So the group has three objectives. Number one, study the battlefields of the future.
No kidding. Number two, identify which weapons and technologies warfighters will need to harness to dominate in these environments. and the group and three finally the group is expected to deliver a report with recommendations in January.
And you know this is something again that we have talked about here quite a bit over the years. We have talked about what the future of warfare looks like. So many times I have studied history and so many times empires or great powers lose battles because they're really fighting the last war.
They lose the battle. So many great countries have lost wars. Empires have collapsed.
Nations have become enslaved because they're fighting the last war. So, one of the things that I've been very very concerned about here is the calcification of the entrenched military-industrial complex.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- project meridian
- pentagon advisory
- autonomous drones
- hypersonic missiles
- military industrial complex
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Anduril
Watch the episode
Watch “Project Meridian Explained: Elon Musk's New Pentagon Role” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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