In February 2026, a C-17 Globemaster III lifted a nuclear reactor off the tarmac at March Air Reserve Base in California and flew it to Hill Air Force Base in Utah. The reactor, built by Valar Atomics, was small enough to fit inside a standard cargo bay. It was the first time a nuclear power plant had ever been airlifted by the US military. Now the Air Force wants to make that demonstration permanent. On April 8, the Department of the Air Force announced that Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado and Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana have been selected as the first two installations to host nuclear microreactors — compact power plants that could make these critical bases completely independent of the civilian power grid by 2030.

Why These Two Bases

The selection was not random. Malmstrom Air Force Base is home to the 341st Missile Wing, which operates a fleet of Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles spread across the Montana countryside. If the civilian grid goes down — through a cyberattack, an electromagnetic pulse, or even a severe winter storm — the base’s ability to maintain command and control over America’s land-based nuclear deterrent could be compromised. An on-site nuclear reactor changes that equation entirely. Buckley Space Force Base provides strategic and theatre missile warnings, conducts space surveillance, and manages critical communications links. Its mission depends on continuous, uninterrupted power. A grid outage of even a few hours could blind the military’s early-warning systems at exactly the wrong moment.

Both bases were chosen based on their utility infrastructure, available land, and the criticality of their missions. The reactors will be owned and operated by contractors, not the military itself — a model that simplifies maintenance and licensing while keeping the Air Force focused on its core mission.

Small Enough to Fly, Powerful Enough to Matter

Microreactors are exactly what they sound like: nuclear reactors small enough to be transported by truck, train, or — as the February demonstration proved — aircraft. Most designs generate less than 20 megawatts of electrical power, but that is more than enough to run a military installation independently of any external grid. The February 2026 airlift was a proof of concept with strategic implications. If a reactor can be loaded onto a C-17 and flown anywhere in the world within hours, forward operating bases in contested environments could theoretically have grid-independent nuclear power — no fuel convoys, no vulnerable power lines, no dependency on host-nation infrastructure. The technology is not science fiction. Oklo, Inc. has already been awarded a contract to build a microreactor at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska, where extreme cold makes grid independence particularly valuable. The Buckley and Malmstrom selections expand the programme to bases with fundamentally different missions and climates, testing whether the concept scales across the force.

The Bigger Picture

The move toward on-base nuclear power reflects a broader shift in Pentagon thinking about infrastructure vulnerability. Cyberattacks on civilian power grids are no longer hypothetical — Russia has demonstrated the capability in Ukraine, and US intelligence agencies have warned that similar attacks on American infrastructure are possible. Natural disasters, too, have exposed the fragility of the grid: in 2021, Winter Storm Uri knocked out power across Texas, affecting military installations in the state. A base with its own nuclear reactor does not need to worry about any of that. The reactor runs continuously, requires minimal fuel resupply (some designs can operate for years without refuelling), and produces zero carbon emissions. For the Air Force, it is not just a backup power system — it is a strategic asset that ensures the most critical missions in the US military’s portfolio never go dark.

Sources: Air & Space Forces Magazine, NPR, Task & Purpose, NucNet