The Army plans to host civilian-run data centers on its bases, according to recent federal contracting documents and official statements.
In late March, Army officials announced that it “conditionally selected” global investment firms to build, operate and manage commercial data centers on “underutilized” land at Fort Bliss, Texas and Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. The data centers are being built under an agreement with private developers to use available acres of Army property in exchange for access to computing power. According to the Wall Street Journal, Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll said the data center at Fort Bliss would be “the first hyper-scale data center that the Pentagon has ever done.”
Additionally, federal contracting documents show plans for centers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and Fort Hood, Texas. The documents show specific parcels of land that the service is considering for the projects. This includes an area “within ½ mile” of residential and commercial properties at Fort Hood and several potential spots at Fort Bragg within one mile of civilian areas and one-half mile of civilian housing. Often described as the physical backbone of the digital world, data centers are the physical facilities that house hardware for networks and IT equipment that processes and stores the data that underpins cloud computing and artificial intelligence servers.
As projects in civilian communities have faced major opposition, Army officials also acknowledged the potential for backlash. The federal notice to private contractors said commercial proposals should describe plans for “local outreach and engagement for its potential deployment of the data center on the Properties to assess local sentiment and any risks or opposition to execution of the Project.”
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The majority of the world’s data centers — more than 5,400 locations — are spread across the U.S. While a number of cities and communities have announced plans to build more data centers, nearly $64 billion in new projects have been delayed and cancelled following local outrage, according to a tally kept by Data Center Watch.
Much of the public outcry has centered on the data centers’ incredible consumption of local water resources and the effect on residents’ energy bills. The government of Virginia, which has the highest concentration of data centers across the globe, funded an independent study, which found that by 2040, residents’ energy bills could increase by $14 to $37 more per month.
As the actual home for the infrastructure that powers 21st-century AI and cloud data, the centers have also become a new target in modern war. In early March, The Guardian reported that Iranian drones struck three Amazon Web Services data centers in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
“AI is a strategic asset for the Army,” Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll said as part of the March announcement. “It is a force multiplier, supports future transformation and requirements, keeps the Army ahead of our adversaries, and generates resiliency across the force. These data centers are a critical resource to support that strategic imperative.”
In 2025, the Air Force announced a similar pitch for private AI data center projects on used land at Arnold Air Force Base, Tennessee, Edwards Air Force Base, California, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, and Robins Air Force Base, Georgia.
