Pete Hegseth made a playful remark about Star Trek becoming “real” during an event intriguingly named after a dystopian episode from the iconic sci-fi series.

The occasion took place at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas on Monday, where Hegseth, the defense secretary, joined forces with Elon Musk as part of the ‘Arsenal of Freedom’ tour. This tour is aimed at advocating for the Pentagon’s development of non-woke artificial intelligence.

As Hegseth took the stage, the energizing beats of The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” filled the air, setting a dynamic tone for his appearance. Standing beside Musk, Hegseth greeted the audience with a Vulcan salute, humorously stating, “How about this. Star Trek real.”

Elon Musk couldn’t help but chuckle at Hegseth’s pop culture nod. The stage was aptly decorated with a lectern that read “Arsenal of Freedom,” a nod to a Star Trek episode that reflects on a civilization undone by its own weaponry.

Musk laughed at the pop culture reference from Hegseth. The lectern on stage read: Arsenal of Freedom, which is also the title of a Star Trek episode about a civilization destroyed by its own weapons. 

In his speech, Hegseth spoke about the global arms races, government bureaucracy and technological stagnation.

‘Department of War AI will not be woke,’ he said. ‘We’re building war-ready weapons and systems, not chatbots for an Ivy League faculty lounge.’

The Arsenal of Freedom campaign aims to reshape how the US military builds weapons, adopts AI and partners with Silicon Valley.

Musk also addressed the crowd to make clear his ambitions extend beyond defense contracts and into outer space. 

Pete Hegseth cracked a Star Trek joke making a Vulcan Salute while unveiling the Pentagon’s non-‘woke’ AI push alongside Elon Musk at SpaceX’s Starbase

The Pentagon chief said the military must become an ‘AI-first warfighting force’ to stay ahead of adversaries (artist impression of robots fighting a war)

‘We want to make Star Trek real,’ Musk said describing a future of interplanetary travel and even journeys beyond the solar system as he welcomed brought Hegseth to the company’s rocket manufacturing and launch hub.

Hegseth’s visit to Starbase marked a major stop on his month-long ‘Arsenal of Freedom’ tour, which the Defense Department says is designed to rebuild the military by engaging directly with the defense industrial base and speeding up innovation.

‘You are the foundation of our defense industrial base – the foundation of great American manufacturers – who we trust to usher in that new golden age of peace through strength under President Trump,’ Hegseth told the crowd.

He declared the United States ‘deadly serious’ about dominating space, calling for ‘a larger, more modern and more capable constellation of American satellites launched by American rockets from American soil, built by American engineers.’

The secretary framed his message as a sharp break from the past, criticizing what he described as years of bureaucratic inertia at the Pentagon.

‘Until President Trump took office, the Department of War’s process for fielding new capabilities had not kept up with the times,’ Hegseth said, lamenting ‘endless projects with no accountable owners’ and ‘high churn with little progress and few outputs.’

‘That sounds about like the exact opposite of SpaceX,’ he added, calling the contrast ‘a dangerous game with potentially fatal consequences.’

The Defense Department published a lengthy document detailing how AI will be used 

Hegseth slammed what he called ‘woke’ AI while pushing an aggressive military tech overhaul

The most pointed lines of the speech came as Hegseth took aim at what he called a ‘risk-averse culture’ inside the defense industry and vowed to upend it.

‘This is about building an innovation pipeline that cuts through the overgrown bureaucratic underbrush and clears away the debris Elon-style – preferably with a chainsaw,’ Hegseth said.

As part of that effort, he confirmed that the Defense Department plans to integrate Musk’s Grok AI platform into Pentagon systems, alongside Google’s Gemini model, deploying them across both classified and unclassified networks.

Hegseth said he has directed that ‘all appropriate data’ be shared across every service and component so it can be ‘fully leveraged for warfighting capability development and operational advantage.’

‘We must ensure that America’s military AI dominates,’ he said, warning that adversaries could exploit the same technology if the US hesitates.

Hegseth also took aim at what he labeled ‘woke’ artificial intelligence, signaling that the Pentagon under his leadership will push past previous efforts to limit military AI use.

‘We can no longer afford to wait a decade for our legacy prime contractors to deliver a perfect system,’ he said. ‘Winning requires a new playbook.’ 

Hegseth said his vision for military AI systems means that they operate ‘without ideological constraints that limit lawful military applications,’ before adding that the Pentagon’s ‘AI will not be woke.’ 

Musk framed the moment as part of a much larger vision — turning science fiction into operational reality

Hegseth’s sci-fi quip carried irony, as Star Trek’s ‘Arsenal of Freedom’ storyline warns of the dangers of unchecked military technology. Pictured, the USS Enterprise from Star Trek

Musk introduced Hegseth at Starbase underscoring his growing influence in US defense policy

Musk developed and pitched Grok as an alternative to what he called ‘woke AI’ interactions from rival chatbots like Google´s Gemini or OpenAI´s ChatGPT.

In July, Grok also caused controversy after it appeared to make antisemitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler and shared several antisemitic posts.

SpaceX has become one of the government’s most important defense partners, authorized to launch sensitive national security satellites and holding billions of dollars in contracts with NASA and the US military.

Starbase itself serves as the primary production and launch site for Starship, Musk’s massive next-generation rocket designed to carry cargo, and eventually people, to the moon, Mars and beyond.

The Biden administration enacted a framework in late 2024 that directed national security agencies to expand their use of the most advanced AI systems but prohibited certain uses, such as applications that would violate constitutionally protected civil rights or any system that would automate the deployment of nuclear weapons. It is unclear if those prohibitions are still in place under the Trump administration.

During his speech, Hegseth spoke of the need to streamline and speed up technological innovations within the military, saying, ‘We need innovation to come from anywhere and evolve with speed and purpose.’

He noted that the Pentagon possesses ‘combat-proven operational data from two decades of military and intelligence operations.’

‘AI is only as good as the data that it receives, and we´re going to make sure that it´s there,’ Hegseth said.