diff --git a/src/istio/common/zarf.yaml b/src/istio/common/zarf.yaml
index 6e656447d4..7e7fc45381 100644
--- a/src/istio/common/zarf.yaml
+++ b/src/istio/common/zarf.yaml
@@ -28,6 +28,13 @@ components:
         namespace: istio-system
         valuesFiles:
           - "../values/base-istiod.yaml"
+        variables:
+          - name: PROXY_MEMORY_REQUEST
+            description: "Memory requests for sidecars in cluster"
+            path: "global.proxy.resources.requests.memory"
+          - name: PROXY_CPU_REQUEST
+            description: "CPU requests for sidecars in cluster"
+            path: "global.proxy.resources.requests.cpu"
       - name: uds-global-istio-config
         namespace: istio-system
         version: 0.1.0
diff --git a/tasks/deploy.yaml b/tasks/deploy.yaml
index baca994b4e..bffd42c19d 100644
--- a/tasks/deploy.yaml
+++ b/tasks/deploy.yaml
@@ -45,9 +45,9 @@ tasks:
         default: base
         description: The UDS Core layer to deploy
     actions:
-      - description: "Deploy UDS Core Base Layer without Ambient (must set UDS_LAYER environment variable)"
+      - description: "Deploy UDS Core Base Layer"
         if: ${{ eq .inputs.layer "base"}}
-        cmd: uds zarf package deploy build/zarf-package-core-${{ index .inputs "layer" }}-${UDS_ARCH}-${VERSION}.tar.zst --confirm --no-progress --components '*'
+        cmd: uds zarf package deploy build/zarf-package-core-${{ index .inputs "layer" }}-${UDS_ARCH}-${VERSION}.tar.zst --confirm --no-progress --components '*' --set PROXY_MEMORY_REQUEST=40Mi --set PROXY_CPU_REQUEST=10m
       - description: "Deploy a single UDS Core Layer (must set UDS_LAYER environment variable)"
         if: ${{ ne .inputs.layer "base"}}
         cmd: uds zarf package deploy build/zarf-package-core-${{ index .inputs "layer" }}-${UDS_ARCH}-${VERSION}.tar.zst --confirm --no-progress --components '*'