Pentagon orders bases to plan for 90 days without the grid as Britain urges families to stockpile food and water

The Pentagon wants every major U.S. military base to run for 90 days without outside assistance if a conflict cuts off power and supply chains. According to Fox News Digital, which reported on Oct. 25 citing internal planning documents, the requirement is part of FORTRESS, an initiative unveiled by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in his Sept. 30 "State of the Force" address. Hegseth pledged that every major installation would generate its own power independent of the civilian grid, and a follow-up memo outlined a dedicated program office. The 90-day standard goes further, extending self-sufficiency to water, fuel and communications.

The plan envisions portable nuclear reactors, large-scale battery storage and microgrids able to disconnect bases from civilian networks. The Army has already moved in this direction, announcing up to $2.2 billion in August for nuclear microreactors at five bases. FORTRESS also calls for strategic reserves of munitions, fuel, critical minerals, electronics, spare parts and medical supplies, and requires at least two qualified supply or production pathways for the most critical dependencies. Through the Civil Reserve Manufacturing Network, the Pentagon plans to identify commercial factories that could switch to defense production in a crisis, with specifications, cybersecurity protections and conversion procedures worked out in advance. Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell, who Fox said leads the initiative, stated: "Power is combat now."

The Pentagon has not publicly named a target country. However, a February 2024 joint advisory from CISA, the NSA and the FBI warned that Chinese state-sponsored hackers known as Volt Typhoon had compromised IT networks of U.S. organizations in the communications, energy, transportation and water sectors, potentially positioning to disrupt essential services during a future conflict. A senior defense official told reporters on Oct. 20 that officials are still assessing needs at roughly 500 continental U.S. bases and that full implementation could take decades. The Pentagon has not released a cost estimate or timeline; Air & Space Forces Magazine estimated costs could reach tens of billions of dollars, if not hundreds of billions.

In Britain, the government launched its Be Ready campaign on Oct. 22, advising households to keep three liters of drinking water per person per day, non-perishable food, flashlights, power banks, first-aid supplies, a battery or wind-up radio, and cash in case card payments and ATMs fail. The government describes it as the first stage of a three-year campaign covering severe weather and other emergencies, building on household guidance published since May 2024. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting wrote in The Telegraph that adversaries could have the force strength and war economy to attack by 2030, leaving roughly 1,000 days to prepare, and argued that terms like "hybrid warfare" understate the danger. Britain's National Cyber Security Centre handled more than 200 cyber incidents affecting critical infrastructure between June 2025 and May 2026, with about 75% believed linked to state actors, according to NCSC chief executive Richard Horne.

The two governments' efforts are not known to be coordinated, and neither has said a conflict is imminent. Britain's 2025 National Security Strategy named Russia its most acute threat and flagged Iranian hostile activity and a sophisticated, persistent challenge from China. In the EU, the European Commission unveiled a preparedness strategy in March 2025 calling for guidance on keeping at least 72 hours of emergency supplies. Western governments are increasingly focused on cyberattacks, sabotage and hybrid warfare linked to Russia, China and Iran.