A meeting between Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk and Secretary of Defense Ash Carter is fueling speculation the billionaire businessman might be getting involved in hush-hush Pentagon projects such a real "Iron Man" armored combat suit for US soldiers currently under development.

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Tesla added more fuel to the fire by tweeting in response to a media question this cryptic sentence: "Something about a flying metal suit ..."

The Pentagon, however, said the topic was nothing as dramatic but did say the meeting between Musk and Carter was about "innovation." More realistically, the meeting might have really been about SpaceX doing more business for the Pentagon. The company was recently awarded an $82 million contract to launch military GPS satellites into orbit.

A Department of Defense spokesman said Carter "has been reaching out to a number of members of the technology community to get their ideas, their feedback, find out what's going on in the world of innovation."

But the media attention on Musk and his enigmatic tweet might also be driven by speculation the frenetic and edgy character of Tony Stark in the hit Iron Man movies might have been inspired by Musk.

The first independently operational combat suit prototype of the Pentagon's Iron Man-type suit, which is publicly being called TALOS, is expected to be delivered by August 2018. This announcement was made in 2014 by U.S. Navy Admiral William McRaven, former Commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM).

A champion of the armored combat suit, Adm. McRaven first publicly revealed TALOS in May 2013. His support for TALOS was taken up by his SOCOM successor, U.S. Army General Joseph Votel.

TALOS is an acronym for "Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit." It's a robotic exoskeleton SOCOM is building with the help of military contractors, universities and the tech industry.

SOCOM specified that TALOS must be bulletproof; and give the soldier superhuman strength. It must also be weaponized and have the ability to monitor the soldier's vital signs.

The TALOS armor will be based on a revolutionary form of protection called "liquid armor." U.S. researchers are using nanotechnology to strengthen kevlar armor with a "magnetorheological fluid" (or MR fluid) that changes into a solid in milliseconds after being struck by a bullet.

The design of the suit could also include an attachable frame that serves as the suit's exoskeleton. The U.S. Army said the exoskeleton promises to give the U.S. soldier superhuman strength. These powerd limbs will amplify any motion made by a soldier and boost his speed and overall mobility.

In a TALOS project update last year, Gen. Votel said that if all goes well with the project, SOCOM will have "the first of its kind, fully-integrated, independently-powered prototype by the end of August 2018."

"Advanced armor, cutting-edge power sources and integrated display systems are just a few of the results this project has already yielded," said Gen. Votel. "This past year, SOCOM collaborated with industry to develop the military's first-ever, untethered, loadbearing, powered exoskeleton to augment human performance."

TagsElon Musk, SpaceX, Ash Carter, Iron Man, TALOS, Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit, Admiral William McRaven, U.S. Army General Joseph Votel