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15 Oct 25. US Army power forward presence with micro nuclear reactors. Senior government officials confirm between 10 and 12 reactors will be built in less than a year. Secretaries of the US Army and Energy Department, Daniel Driscoll and Christopher Wright, announced plans to build micro nuclear reactors to power the Army’s forward presence in the Pacific theatre. The rationale behind the transition to nuclear energy is that it is an alternative power source to diesel generators, which require an extensive and uncertain supply chain, which are not enough to enable Army missions overseas.
“You may be able to store a few weeks of [diesel] fuel – months is probably too much. But think of a forward deployed, small modular reactor that’s out there and can be flown in on a C-17 [or] on the back of a flatbed truck…
“Nuclear energy will provide multiple megawatts of power… meaningful power to do what [the Army are] doing, and it will run for years,” Wright described.
Project JANUS
Up to a dozen reactors will be delivered in less than a year – before 4 July 2026 – under this programme, dubbed Project JANUS. These nuclear reactors will be based, at first, in Idaho and other unspecified Western States. Energy consumption in modern military operations has become insurmountable as the battlespace moves according to the data collected and distributed across an integrated network driven by artifical intelligence.
“If you think about our engagement in a conflict in the Indo-Pacific, it is not going to be like a war we’ve had in the last 40 or 50 years,” Wright intimated. “We’re going to need to be able to access power like we have never needed it before.”
HALEU production
Although Driscoll and Wright were persistent in their claims that the new policy comes down to the advocacy of President Donald Trump, who has indeed sought to advance reactor technologies, the military and other agencies have been working to design, build, and demonstrate a prototype for a mobile nuclear reactor since 2016 under Project PELE. Nevertheless, this latest interagency cooperation aims to cut the bureaucracy of the past, the two maintained. This will see the administration reform the Nuclear Regulatory Commission “to deliver safety and delivery, not bureaucracy,” Wright stated. But in their efforts to carve out their own nuclear energy policy, the government plan to produce High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU). Existing reactors run on uranium fuel that is enriched up to 5% uranium 235 – the main fissile isotope that produces energy during a chain reaction. By definition, HALEU is enriched between 5% and less than 20% and is required for most US advanced reactors to achieve smaller designs that get more power per unit of volume. Only Russia and China have the infrastructure to produce HALEU at scale, according to the World Nuclear Association. Notably, the former administration under Joe Biden awarded six contracts to secure America’s domestic HALEU supply chain in their closing months in office. (Source: army-technology.com)
10 Oct 25. Senate approval of defence bill raises compliance risks for defence sector, mitigating policy risks. On 9 October, the US Senate approved legislation to authorise USD 925 bn for national defence, receiving overwhelming bipartisan support. The bill underscores that funding the US military remains a bipartisan priority, despite the Trump administration’s efforts to slash government spending. Among the amendments, the bill overhauls procedures regarding the procurement of weapons, supporting the large network of private and public organisations that supply the government with military equipment. Consequently, defence contractors will face increased compliance risks; experts suggest that the new rules will likely deter smaller companies from bidding on projects, possibly diminishing competition in the military industry. In the short term, negotiations with the US House of Representatives will possibly stall the bill’s progression, as the House’s version contains a range of conservative social policy directives (including amendments on gender diversity in the military) that the Senate did not include. Nonetheless, we assess that the bill will pass in the coming weeks, sustaining the US military’s strength and force posture in the long term and mitigating defence policy risks. (Source: Sibylline)
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Founded in 1987, Exensor Technology is a world leading supplier of Networked Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) Systems providing tailored sensor solutions to customers all over the world. From our Headquarters in Lund Sweden, our centre of expertise in Network Communications at Communications Research Lab in Kalmar Sweden and our Production site outside of Basingstoke UK, we design, develop and produce latest state of the art rugged UGS solutions at the highest quality to meet the most stringent demands of our customers. Our systems are in operation and used in a wide number of Military as well as Homeland Security applications worldwide. The modular nature of the system ensures any external sensor can be integrated, providing the user with a fully meshed “silent” network capable of self-healing. Exensor Technology will continue to lead the field in UGS technology, provide our customers with excellent customer service and a bespoke package able to meet every need.
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