WASHINGTON (Realist English). The US Army has invited leading Wall Street private equity firms — including Apollo, Carlyle, KKR, and Cerberus — to propose large-scale investment projects aimed at financing a $150 billion modernization of military infrastructure, according to army secretary Daniel Driscoll.
Driscoll and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hosted about 15 of America’s top buyout firms at a closed-door forum last week to discuss how private capital could fund new data centers, rare earth processing plants, and other strategic assets.
“We gathered these investors to say, ‘Here are all the assets we have — bases, depots, underutilized land. What types of deals can we build together?’” Driscoll told the Financial Times. “We want clever financing models — unique ones. We actually just want meaty projects.”
The initiative is part of a broader Trump administration effort to bring the $13 trillion private capital industry into the heart of U.S. national security policy. Officials said the army could even swap land or mineral rights for data-processing capacity or production output, rather than cash payments.
One executive who attended the meeting said proposals included building data centers on military bases under long-term lease agreements with the government — a move designed to speed up construction and cut costs.
Driscoll, a former investment banker, said he has only $15 billion budgeted for infrastructure over the next decade, far short of the $150 billion needed.
“We are in a hole that we can’t dig out of without creative solutions from outside partners,” he said.
The gathering also follows President Donald Trump’s August executive order allowing U.S. retirement funds to invest in private assets — another signal of Washington’s growing openness to private equity.
Cerberus Capital Management, which attended the meeting, was founded by Steve Feinberg, now deputy secretary of defense. Feinberg pledged to divest from the firm after joining the administration.
Participants said discussions covered financing the army’s supply chain, refurbishing real estate, and using base properties as collateral to raise capital. “It was serious and very wide-ranging,” said one attendee.
Driscoll’s push falls under his Army Transformation Initiative, aimed at equipping the force with next-generation technologies through partnerships with Big Tech and defense start-ups. “The Silicon Valley approach is absolutely ideal for the army,” he told a military audience last week.
In parallel, the Pentagon has already invested $400 million in MP Materials, becoming its largest shareholder to strengthen domestic rare earth supplies after China restricted exports. Driscoll said the army could take similar equity stakes in critical mineral producers and build stockpiles of strategic materials.
The army expects to receive formal investment proposals in the coming weeks and plans to finalize several deals by the end of the year.
Alongside Apollo, Carlyle, KKR, and Cerberus, other firms attending the session included Advent International, BDT & MSD Partners, and several major family offices. Most declined to comment.
If successful, the initiative would mark a historic convergence between Wall Street finance and U.S. defense infrastructure, blurring the line between private capital and national security.
