An energy innovation expo opened at the Pentagon this week, displaying more than 100 exhibits highlighting military projects ranging from nuclear microreactors to systems for beaming power from space.
The three-day Energy Sentry event features Army, Navy and Air Force programs including the Army's Tactical Microgrid Standard, the Navy's system to transmit power wirelessly from space to remote locations, and the Air Force's Modular Energy for Tactical Expeditionary Operations Resource, or METEOR, power system.
The expo reflects a strategic shift within the Department of War. Dale R. Marks, assistant secretary of war for energy, installations and environment, said the Pentagon has traditionally treated military base power and operational energy as separate concerns. "For too long, defense planners operated under a false construct," Marks said. "We built a firewall between installation energy — the power running our bases at home — and operational energy — the fuel and the batteries powering our assets at the tactical edge. Today, that seam is completely gone; it's blurred into irrelevance."
The department is accelerating development of TRISO fuel, a type used in advanced nuclear reactors, to support the Army's Janus program, which will deploy commercially owned nuclear microreactors at domestic military installations, and the Air Force's Advanced Nuclear Power for Installations program, or ANPI. The department is also investing in the Versatile Autonomous Kilowatt-Class Reactor Experiment, or VALKRE, a joint project with NASA that advances kilowatt-class nuclear reactor technology for use on Earth and in space.
On the space front, the Navy's Assured Space Power Initiative aims to transmit energy wirelessly across vast distances from space to ground, allowing the military to resupply remote sensors, unmanned aerial vehicles and isolated units. The department highlighted tactical microgrids, vehicle-centric power systems and energy storage as technologies that can maintain operations during supply chain disruptions and cyberattacks.
The department said it is streamlining how it funds energy innovation to ensure technologies reach military operators, citing the Operational Energy Capital Improvement Fund, the Operational Energy Prototyping Fund, the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program, and the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program.