Luckey and Lamm want gene-edited military dogs: biotech enters the arsenal, and the debate comes later

By Forbes · October 23, 2026.

Forbes reports that billionaires Palmer Luckey and Ben Lamm have launched a startup to genetically modify dogs for military use. The article's headline presents it as a project to create "war dogs" for the armed forces. We only have the headline, the standfirst and the article's URL; we do not have access to investment figures, the company's name, the traits they intend to edit or the timelines. We therefore do not treat them as known.

For industry context, Luckey is the founder of Anduril, a defense technology company. Lamm runs Colossal Biosciences, known for its project to "de-extinct" the woolly mammoth. Those profiles explain the outlet's angle: the pairing of defense tech with high-profile genetic engineering.

Our view is that what matters is not the dog but the precedent. Gene editing has for years been presented as a way to cure diseases. That one of its most visible applications is aimed at an animal for military use is a reminder that every general-purpose technology ends up serving military uses as well. Biotechnology will be no exception, and AI accelerates that process by making genomic design and analysis cheaper.

Our take: there is a narrative risk. An "enhanced" dog sounds like science fiction, and demonstrated capability should be separated from marketing aspiration until there is data: what is being edited, with what evidence of effectiveness and what animal welfare standards apply. If the project moves forward, the questions will be about governance: who oversees the trials, what ethical limits are set and what happens if the same platform is extended to other species.

In the short term, this will fuel the debate over the mix of private capital, defense and biology. In the long term, the tools proposed for use on dogs are the same ones that could help eradicate diseases in people. That is why it matters that governance arrives before scale, not the other way around.