On February 27 at 2:00 p.m. ET, the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center and the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security’s Forward Defense Program will host a discussion on how operational energy strengthens US military readiness and resilience. With the new administration prioritizing energy dominance and military lethality, this event will explore how energy strategies align with these objectives to enhance force effectiveness in an evolving security landscape.

Energy has long been both an enabler of and a constraint on military power, shaping the outcomes of battles and wars. Today, operational energy—the energy used for warfighting—is more critical than ever, as modern warfare demands increasingly energy-intensive platforms. The US military and its allies face mounting energy security challenges as adversaries seek to disrupt fuel supplies, while hybrid warfare and cyber threats endanger the civilian supply chains essential to military operations at home and abroad.

This discussion will examine how operational energy supports military agility in contested environments, enabling joint force interoperability and multi-domain operations. It will explore innovative energy solutions for next-generation capabilities like hypersonics, autonomous systems, and directed-energy weapons. As energy itself becomes weaponized on the battlefield, the event will also assess how the US military can enhance resilience and maintain operational superiority.

By addressing these evolving challenges, this event provides a timely platform to examine how operational energy strategies can adapt to emerging threats and align with broader defense priorities.