Pentagon to Leverage Private Partnerships for ‘FORTRESS America’ Base Hardening Initiative

TAMPA, Fla. — The Department of Defense intends to utilize public-private partnerships to fund its ambitious “FORTRESS America” initiative, aimed at hardening homeland military installations. A senior Pentagon official informed Breaking Defense that the military services are already identifying specific opportunities to offset costs through these collaborations.

“I think the reality of this one is this is where the public-private partnerships really start to pay,” said Dale Marks, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment, during the Installation Innovation conference this week. “The model that we’re trying to drive on is not me having to go back up on Capitol Hill with my hand out.”

Marks noted that military branches are developing a prioritization strategy for project components that could offer “commercial offtake” potential, suggesting that these partnerships will enable the department to execute the plan with greater speed and scale.

Unveiled a month ago by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, FORTRESS is designed as a national “insurance policy.” The strategy is built upon five primary pillars intended to secure domestic bases: achieving energy independence, strengthening domestic supply chains, optimizing the distribution of strategic stockpiles, hardening physical installations, and ensuring weapon systems remain operational during satellite communication failures.

“Fortress America does not mean we are retreating behind our borders. It means we are securing our launching pad,” Marks stated. “It means that when the United States decides to project power across the globe, that power will be unyielding, sustained, and unstoppable because the home front cannot be severed.”

Rather than imposing a rigid completion deadline for all U.S. installations, Marks said leadership is focusing on establishing priorities and implementing cost-reduction strategies. While he did not specify which projects are most suitable for private deals or whether the DoD would issue further high-value loans to critical industries, he detailed the flexibility inherent in the program’s five pillars.

Establishing Sovereign Operational Continuity

Marks emphasized that FORTRESS builds upon existing initiatives rather than starting from scratch. The first pillar, energy independence, seeks to make bases self-sustaining, with the goal of powering facilities for 30 to 90 days without reliance on the civilian power grid.

“Every premier military installation must achieve sovereign operational continuity,” Marks said. “Our priority is straightforward: We are ending the era of base operations depending on the commercial civilian grid.”

Implementation will vary by location. The strategy leverages the Army’s $2.2 billion Janus program, which tests nuclear microreactor prototypes. However, Marks clarified that microreactors will not be universal; other installations may utilize geothermal energy or natural gas.

The second pillar focuses on domestic supply chain resilience. Marks highlighted the danger of relying on foreign sources for critical components such as titanium sponge, rare earth magnets, defense-grade semiconductors, and solid rocket propellants, stating that this “dangerous vulnerability ends now.” This effort aligns with a July executive order requiring companies to phase out critical materials from Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China by 2027.

The third pillar addresses installation hardening and cyber-physical survivability. This involves upgrading physical security with ultra-high-performance concrete structures, subterranean command vaults, layered short-range air defenses, and air-gapped operational technology networks to prevent cyber intrusions. Marks noted that his team is currently coordinating with the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager to prioritize these coverage areas.

The fourth pillar focuses on strategic reserves. The DoD is mandating a 90-day on-site stockpile of fuel, ammunition, and critical parts, supplemented by digital additive manufacturing (3D printing) depots to produce spare parts under embargo conditions. This area is viewed as particularly ripe for public-private partnerships regarding factories and depots.

The final pillar ensures space and communications resilience. The goal is to maintain operational capabilities despite adversary jamming or anti-satellite weapons. By deploying ground-based GPS, subterranean inertial reference networks, and direct optical laser trunk lines, the Pentagon aims to ensure that commanders maintain situational awareness even if commercial low-Earth orbit communications are disabled.

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