The Pentagon Is Planning for 90 Days Without the Grid. Is Your Home?

The U.S. Department of War has launched FORTRESS America (Federal Operations for Resilience, Troop Resources, Energy, Supply and Survivability). Announced on 30 September 2026, it orders every major U.S. military installation to generate its own power, independent of the civilian grid, so bases keep running if an adversary takes the grid down by cyberattack or sabotage.

On 25 October 2026, Fox News Digital reported internal Pentagon documents describing a further goal: major U.S. installations able to sustain essential operations for at least 90 days without outside electricity, water, fuel or communications. Options under consideration include portable nuclear reactors, large battery storage, and microgrids that can disconnect from the public grid. That 90-day standard is reported, not yet public policy, and no completion date or total cost has been announced.

What it means for your household

The people who plan for war are treating a long grid failure as a planning case. Their plan protects military bases. It does not cover your street, your water plant or your grocery store.

Canada has already lived this

In January 1998, ice storms left up to 1.4 million Quebec households without power, and the last customer was reconnected about a month after the storm began, according to Hydro-Québec. At least 30 deaths were linked to the storm, and hundreds of thousands of people went to shelters for weeks. No adversary was involved.

Ask yourself

What does your house have for Day 1? Day 3? Day 7? Day 14?

The Government of Canada asks every household to be self-sufficient for at least 72 hours, with 4 litres of water per person per day. Most homes are not there yet, and 72 hours is the floor, not the goal.

The course

Lights Out: Household Grid-Down Plan is a new self-paced S-A-T-S online course for civilians. It takes your household past the 72-hour baseline to a written, tested 14-day plan, with a path to 90 days.

• What fails first in your home (threat assessment and household inventory)

• Water: how much, how to store it, how to treat it

• Food: order of use, food safety, cooking without the grid

• Heat and shelter in a Canadian winter, and carbon monoxide safety

• Power, light and a family communications plan

• Sanitation, hygiene and medical needs

• Security, community and mutual aid

• A 72-hour lights-out weekend at home, with a fix-it list (after-action review) for instructor feedback

Price: CAD 90. Enrol at https://www.s-a-t-s.com/challenge-page/lights-out-household-grid-down-plan

Sources: Fox News Digital (25 October 2026), DefenseScoop (7 October 2026), IBTimes, Hydro-Québec (5 January 2018), Global News, GetPrepared.ca.