Pentagon Plans 90-Day Self-Sufficient US Military Bases

By Staff, Agencies

The US Department of War is preparing to ensure that American military bases can operate independently for at least 90 days during a major conflict, protecting essential services and supplies from disruptions to civilian infrastructure and global supply chains, according to a report by Fox News Digital.

The preparations fall under an initiative known as FORTRESS, details of which were outlined in documents reviewed by the news outlet on Sunday.

“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,” Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell told Fox News Digital.

Parnell said US homeland defense planning must evolve to address emerging threats that could reach the American mainland, challenging the longstanding assumption that the Atlantic and Pacific oceans provide sufficient protection.

He said President Donald Trump had promoted a different approach through initiatives such as Golden Dome and a renewed strategic focus on the Western Hemisphere, including Greenland and Panama.

The FORTRESS initiative envisions military bases equipped with portable nuclear reactors, large-scale battery storage systems and microgrids to maintain operations during power outages or disruptions to civilian electricity networks.

The plan also calls for strategic reserves of ammunition, fuel, critical minerals, electronic components, spare parts and medical supplies to reduce dependence on vulnerable external supply chains.

In addition, the initiative seeks to establish at least two qualified supply or production channels for essential defense requirements, ensuring that military operations can continue if individual suppliers or transportation routes become unavailable.

“The next conflict will likely be fought on multiple fronts. Look at the geopolitics behind any major war. When that happens, global supply chains will break,” Parnell said.

FORTRESS also aims to strengthen the US military industrial base by preparing civilian manufacturing facilities to switch to military production during a major conflict.

Under the proposed framework, the Civil Reserve Manufacturing Network would support advance planning for production contracts, cybersecurity protections and conversion procedures.

The initiative would also introduce regular industrial stress tests and mobilization exercises to assess how quickly civilian factories could respond to increased military demand.

These measures are intended to reduce the risk that disruptions to international trade, manufacturing or transportation could undermine the US military’s ability to sustain prolonged operations.

The plan further addresses vulnerabilities in military communications, navigation and satellite capabilities, including potential GPS jamming and disruptions affecting space-based infrastructure.

Parnell stressed that electricity is fundamental to modern military operations because it supports communications, water supplies, logistics, manufacturing and command systems.

“Power is combat now. Without electricity, you lose communications, water, logistics, assembly lines and just basic military command structures,” he said, adding that the military must prepare for these challenges before a major conflict begins.

He described FORTRESS as an insurance policy designed to keep US forces operational if a large-scale war disrupts the civilian infrastructure, industrial capacity and supply networks on which the military depends.

The initiative reflects the Pentagon’s growing emphasis on infrastructure resilience, strategic stockpiling and domestic production capacity as part of preparations for a potential conflict involving multiple fronts.