National Security
Pentagon's FORTRESS plan will ensure military bases can survive 90 days with no resupply
“You don’t want to be making these decisions in the middle of a global multi-front conflict. We have to have a plan”
The Pentagon is requiring military bases to prepare to be self-sufficient for at least 90 days as part of the FORTRESS initiative. These essential functions will include electricity, water, fuel accessibility and communications, such as when GPS or satellite signals may become disrupted.
“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," Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson said, according to Fox News. Parnell added, “Power is combat now. Without electricity, you lose communications, water, logistics, assembly lines and just basic military command structures.”
Parnell is leading the FORTRESS initiative.This is part of a larger plan to prepare for threats to the homeland, including military installations inside the United States.
“I realized that a lot of the way we think about homeland defense was built around the antiquated assumption that two oceans would protect us,” Parnell said. “President Trump understands that world is gone, and he’s already paved the way for new thinking: Golden Dome, a renewed focus on the Western Hemisphere, Greenland, Panama.”
The military’s reliance on civilian power grids is a major concern.
There are plans for civilian commercial factories to shift to production for defense if there is a crisis, planning for alternative supply chains and strategic reserves for weapons storage and fuel, among other necessary materials such as critical minerals, electronics, spare parts and medications and other medical essentials. This plan currently exists under the Civil Reserve Manufacturing Network, but the Pentagon will identify factories capable of this shift.
Portable nuclear reactors, microgrids so that military bases can be sustained independent of civilian electrical grids and battery storage are all areas of focus. Some of these plans, such as the reduction of dependence on civilian electrical grids, were already in the works. FORTRESS extends these plans for more required services, including global supply chains..
Parnell said, “Mission-critical power must be independent, hardened, and redundant.”
“You don’t want to be making these decisions in the middle of a global multi-front conflict. We have to have a plan,” Parnell stated, describing the plan as an insurance policy for the homeland.
