The Pentagon is advancing a major “doomsday plan” that would allow US military bases to operate for at least 90 days without civilian power, water, or fuel, according to a report from the Daily Express.
The initiative, known as FORTRESS, is unfolding as the United States manages two significant ongoing conflicts and prepares for the possibility of a larger war that could cripple power grids, break supply chains, and threaten critical infrastructure across American territory.
Drawing on FOX News reporting, the Express detailed how the plan aims to keep installations running independently if external support collapses during a major conflict. FORTRESS is designed to ensure forces can continue operating even when the civilian systems they normally depend on are disrupted.
Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell made the stakes clear in comments to Fox News Digital. “We don’t want to rely on standard civilian municipal infrastructure to run our national defence. We just simply can’t. It’s an intolerable risk,” he said.
Officials are also creating frameworks so civilian manufacturing facilities can quickly shift to defense production during emergencies, the Express reported. Under the plan, every major military installation in the continental United States would be required to sustain critical operations on its own for no fewer than 90 days, covering electricity, water, fuel, and communications.
“Power is combat now,” Parnell stated. “Without electricity, you lose communications, water, logistics, assembly lines and just basic military command structures.”
A central concern is the military’s reliance on civilian electrical networks that support communications, logistics, and weapons production. To counter this vulnerability, FORTRESS calls for portable nuclear reactors, large battery storage systems, and microgrids that would let bases disconnect from public power grids and keep functioning through extended outages. Pentagon officials have outlined steps to reduce dependence on civilian infrastructure, with the 90-day target covering all essential services needed for sustained operations.
Parnell has described the program as an insurance policy for the homeland, intended to guarantee that US forces can keep operating if conflict damages infrastructure and severs supply networks.
He noted that traditional thinking about homeland defense rested on the outdated idea that two oceans would provide protection, and pointed to new approaches already underway under President Trump, including the Golden Dome system and greater focus on the Western Hemisphere.
“You don’t want to be making these decisions in the middle of a global multi-front conflict. We have to have a plan,” he said.
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