Pentagon's Project Meridian puts outer space among the domains in a push for autonomous warfare

A 120-day initiative spans undersea to orbit, as industry builds satellites that process military data in space

Defense & Security Correspondent

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Pentagon initiative pushes autonomous warfare into space AI illustrationhow this picture was made

WASHINGTON, USA, Oct. 12, 2026 - US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced Project Meridian, a 120-day Pentagon initiative to secure future military capabilities across every domain from undersea to outer space.^[1] Its aim is long-term military superiority through autonomous warfare systems.^[2] Industry is moving the same way in orbit. Galileo Space is building satellites that turn raw signals into answers while still in space, to meet the demand for fast decisions in defense and commercial operations.^[3] Impact Insight. Processing data on board a satellite, sometimes called edge computing, sends down a short answer instead of large raw files, saving bandwidth and time, and space is now treated as a military domain alongside land, sea, air and cyberspace. There is no direct asteroid link: the story matters here because military activity adds to the traffic and risks in near-Earth space that tracking networks must follow.

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What this stands on

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Project Meridian, a 120-day Pentagon initiative focused on securing future military capabilities across domains from undersea to outer space. · mint
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the launch of Project Meridian, an initiative aimed at securing long-term military superiority through autonomous warfare systems. · DER STANDARD
Galileo Space is building satellites designed to turn signals into answers in orbit to address the need for fast answers in modern defense and commercial operations. · SpaceNews

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