Anduril's Palmer Luckey discusses future of defense manufacturing and underground warfare
Palmer Luckey, Anduril co-founder, outlined his vision for future defense strategy as part of a Pentagon working group led by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, advocating for missiles built in car factories and underground battlefield capabilities.
What happened
Palmer Luckey co-leads a workgroup alongside Elon Musk and Newt Gingrich for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's Project Meridian, a 120-day initiative to identify future weapons and battlefields. In an interview with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Luckey discussed his strategic vision across several areas.
On manufacturing, Luckey argued the U.S. should design missiles that can be produced in car factories and aircraft in tractor factories, drawing parallels to World War II when commercial manufacturing facilities built military equipment. He believes this approach would meet wartime production demands and signal to adversaries like China that American industry could rapidly pivot to weapons production.
Luckey also advocated for unified command and control systems where all sensors can feed information to all weapons systems, eliminating what he called "stove pipes" that prevent information sharing across military services and allied nations.
On future battlefields, Luckey identified "the subterranean domain" as an inevitable theater of conflict. He described this not as tunnel fighting but as three-dimensional warfare using the Earth's crust as maneuver space, enabled by autonomous systems that could bore through underground environments. He noted both the U.S. and Soviet Union previously pursued such capabilities. The working group must submit its findings by January 28, 2027.
Background
Anduril Industries, founded by Palmer Luckey in 2017 along with Trae Stephens, Brian Schimpf, Matt Grimm, and Joe Chen, develops autonomous defense platforms including drones and submersibles. Luckey previously co-founded Oculus VR, acquired by Facebook in 2014. Project Meridian is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's effort to study future defense needs and capabilities rather than develop new strategies or policies. Hegseth announced the project during a "State of the Force" speech.
What to watch next
Project Meridian is expected to submit its recommendations to the Defense Department by January 28, 2027. The findings could influence future military procurement priorities and acquisition strategies.
Sources
- Original report: Anduril’s Palmer Luckey envisions missiles made in car factories, underground battles (Military Times, Oct 13, 2026) Defense media
- Defense News: Anduril’s Palmer Luckey envisions missiles made in car factories, underground battles Defense media
Written by Anduril News with AI assistance from the original report and other coverage, in plain English. It can contain mistakes; check the original for anything important. How we write these.
