Pentagon Readies U.S. Bases to Run 90 Days Off the Civilian Grid

The Pentagon is preparing every major U.S. military base in the continental United States to keep running for at least 90 days without outside help, part of a homeland defense push called FORTRESS, according to documents reviewed by Fox News Digital and reported Sunday.

Under the plan, Fox News reported, each major installation would be expected to sustain essential operations on its own for three months, including electricity, water, fuel and communications, even if the civilian systems those bases normally rely on are knocked out in a major war.

FORTRESS is strategic deterrence in action, ensuring our defenses are hardened, proactive, and ready.

I created FORTRESS America because we can no longer rely on two oceans to protect us. That outdated assumption no longer reflects the threats we face.

President Trump and…

— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellASW) October 25, 2026

‘An intolerable risk’

Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell, who Fox News said led the initiative, framed the issue bluntly. “We don’t want to rely on standard civilian municipal infrastructure to run our national defense. We just simply can’t. It’s an intolerable risk,” Parnell told Fox News Digital.

“Power is combat now. Without electricity, you lose communications, water, logistics, assembly lines and just basic military command structures,” Parnell said, according to Fox News. He added that “mission-critical power must be independent, hardened, and redundant.”

Parnell also made the case publicly on X on Sunday. “FORTRESS is strategic deterrence in action, ensuring our defenses are hardened, proactive, and ready,” he wrote. “I created FORTRESS America because we can no longer rely on two oceans to protect us.”

Reactors, microgrids and stockpiles

Fox News reported that FORTRESS envisions portable nuclear reactors, large-scale battery storage and microgrids that would let bases disconnect from the civilian electrical grid and keep operating through long power disruptions. The outlet noted the Pentagon had already announced plans to cut bases’ dependence on civilian power, and that the 90-day standard goes further by covering water, fuel and other essential services as well.

The plan also calls for strategic reserves of munitions, fuel, critical minerals, electronics, spare parts and medical supplies, according to Fox News. Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, citing the Fox report, said FORTRESS seeks at least two qualified supply or production pathways for critical defense needs, and would prepare civilian factories to switch to defense production through a Civil Reserve Manufacturing Network, backed by regular industrial stress tests and mobilization exercises.

“The next conflict will likely be fought on multiple fronts,” Parnell said, according to Anadolu. “When that happens, global supply chains will break.”

Built on Hegseth’s September directive

The 90-day requirement builds on a program Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in his “State of the Force” address on Sept. 30. FORTRESS stands for Federal Operations for Resilience, Troop Resources, Energy, Supply and Survivability, Hegseth said at the time, according to DefenseScoop.

“Every major military installation in America is going to generate its own power, independent of the civilian grid. If an adversary takes down the grid, by cyberattack, by sabotage, or by any means, our bases stay lit,” Hegseth said, as quoted by DefenseScoop. “Our aircraft keep flying. Our command centers never go dark.”

DefenseScoop reported in early October that the Pentagon’s acquisition chief, Under Secretary Michael Duffey, had ordered senior officials to stand up a FORTRESS America Program Office. The outlet said the effort rests on five pillars: energy independence, supply chain and defense industrial base resilience, a strategic defense reserve, installation hardening and cyber resilience, and space and spectrum resilience.

Why it matters

For decades, U.S. bases have leaned on the same local power grids, water systems and supply lines as the towns around them. The administration’s argument, as Parnell laid it out, is that an adversary would not need to defeat American forces in the field if it could simply cut the power at home. FORTRESS is the Pentagon’s answer: bases that can keep fighting for three months with the lights off everywhere else.

The Pentagon has not publicly released a timeline or a price tag for meeting the 90-day standard at every installation.

Sources

• Fox News Digital
• Anadolu Agency
• DefenseScoop
• Sean Parnell on X

Reporting by Daily Beltway.