Pentagon Calls For Nuclear Reactors, Microgrids To Power Military Bases

PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – DOD needs to shelve the idea of a mobile microreactor that the military can bring on overseas deployments. Instead, it should prioritize fixed nuclear reactors at domestic U.S. military installations and the surrounding defense communities essential to our national defense.

The electrical grid serving 99% of U.S. military installations faces surging demand from AI data centers and semiconductor chip manufacturing. Extreme weather is also causing outages that exceed on-base backup power capability.

The nature of a globally networked force where domestic military installations are increasingly tied to overseas missions — from drones to cyber operations — means that a power failure at home puts operators abroad at risk. That cannot happen.

HENCE ALSO – The Army wants its installations to be energy islands. It is facing a future where its posts are not safe from foreign attacks, where a strike on deployed troops can be followed up by a cyberattack on their home base, hamstringing the service’s ability to send in back-up.

So the service is looking to turn its small cities into energy-independent islands, with microgrids capable of keeping the lights on and the airfields or railheads running, no matter what.

A microgrid is a system independent from the local municipal system, something that uses solar panels or natural gas to generate power and then distribute it.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of today’s other top defense stories ending the week from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.

Not the President’s Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEFING – the PDB:    

HOMELAND SECURITY

The Supreme Court blocked, for now, the deportations of any Venezuelans held in northern Texas under an 18th-century wartime law.

Shooting drone video of national defense sites would be treated as a crime and punishable with imprisonment under new legislation introduced by two military veterans in Congress.

Team Trump started releasing the first tranche of records on Democrat Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 assassination, with roughly 10,000 pages of previously classified records.

Countries shore up their digital defenses as the global threat of cyberwarfare rises. Hackers linked to Russia’s government launched a cyberattack last spring against municipal water plants in rural Texas causing one to overflow. Officials had to run the plant manually.

Drones pose increasing risk to airliners near major US airports.

FEDERAL WOKE WATCH

IDIOT! – A federal judge partially blocked the Trump team from banning the use of “X” marker used by so-called nonbinary people on passports, as well as the changing of gender markers.

POLITICS

Trump wished everyone a happy Easter in a post on his Truth Social platform, “including Radical Left Lunatics.”

Some Jan. 6 rioters pardoned by Trump are now embraced as heroes and candidates for office.

Pete Hegseth reportedly shared detailed plans about a military operation against the Houthis in Yemen on a second Signal group chat, this one on his personal phone and including his wife, lawyer and brother.

A former top Pentagon spokesperson said in an opinion piece published Sunday that DOD is in “disarray” under Hegseth.

Three former senior advisers to Pete Hegseth decried what they called “baseless attacks” after each was escorted from the Pentagon in an expanding probe on information leaks.

US POWER OVERSEAS

First joint patrol in decades of the nightlife area outside Kadena Air Base by US military and Okinawa authorities ended early Saturday with a Marine colonel reminding US service members they had broken curfew.

CHINA THREAT

China has “the world’s leading hypersonic missile arsenal” that can threaten US Navy ships, according to DOD’s most recent report.

China sent six experimental Shiyan series satellites into orbit, using its Long March 6A rocket launched from Taiyuan.

The US and the Philippines will start their flagship ‘super bowl’ of annual military drills Monday, touted as a “rehearsal” for the defense of the nation amid ongoing tensions with China.

RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR

Russia has intensified air and ground operations along several axes in Ukraine, as Ukrainian advance stalls according to UK Intel.

Ukraine says it was struck by a new barrage of deadly Russian air attacks as an Easter ceasefire ended.

UK fighter jets intercepted two Russian aircraft flying close to NATO airspace this week, marking the Royal Air Force’s (RAF) first operational scrambles under Operation CHESSMAN in Poland.

China’s foreign ministry has dismissed as “groundless” the accusation by Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the country had been supplying weapons to Russia.

IRAN THREAT/MIDEAST

The US is consolidating its forces supporting counter-ISIS operations in Syria, reducing the number of troops in the country to fewer than 1,000 in the coming months.

Satellite imagery shows substantial damage at the Houthi-controlled port of Ras Isa in Yemen from Thursday’s US airstrike. No vessels seem too badly damaged, but an oil slick is seen emanating from the shore.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said again that Israel has “no choice” but to continue fighting in Gaza and will not end the war before destroying Hamas, freeing the hostages and ensuring that the territory won’t again present a threat to Israel.

NORTH KOREA THREAT

The US Navy and Republic of Korea Navy wrapped up a mine warfare exercise in South Korean waters.

SPACE THREAT

‘Wicked hard’ Golden Dome challenge. Technology exists to start developing space-based interceptors capable of hitting missiles in their boost phase—but it’s no easy feat.

Following the launch of a classified mission, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has reached a new milestone, deploying more than 200 satellites into orbit in just over two years.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

With the emergence of “a less reliable and more demanding” US partner, Australia needs to look inward for its defense needs and reach out to “non-US” allies in the region, according to an Australian think tank.

Japan navy has installed a turret-mounted electromagnetic railgun on the test ship JS Asuka, which could be a future armament for Japanese warships and could also be employed in a ground-based mode. The US Navy shelved development of its version in the early 2020s after it ran into technical hurdles.

El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, has proposed sending 252 Venezuelans deported from the US and imprisoned in his country to Venezuela, in exchange for “political prisoners” held by Venezuela.

US MILITARY

DOD calls for new class of large autonomous undersea vessels, the ‘Combat Autonomous Maritime Platform,’ capable of supporting large payloads at range in contested environments.

The Army has announced its Army Enterprise Wickr platform is expanding to a wider audience, allowing more users to send messages on the end-to-end encrypted messaging system to protect against breaches of US and allied comms.

The MQ-1C Gray Eagle uncrewed aerial system has used the AGM-114L Longbow Hellfire missile, in conjunction with its onboard radar, to shoot down a drone in live-fire tests.

Images of the F-47 Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter, released by the Air Force are mere placeholders and aren’t intended to accurately portray the aircraft, despite showing only a small portion of it. This, to keep adversaries guessing about the true nature of the NGAD design.

When the acting Air Force Secretary rescinded service-wide “Family Days” last week, he left it to commanders to decide if they wanted to grant the extra days off. Urging only that they “re-evaluate their pass structures to best align with warfighter readiness.”

END of PDB

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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