Central ND News

U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer met with Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski and committee members to discuss strategies for base retention and enhancement at the Grand Forks Air Force Base (GFAFB). As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Cramer explored ways the community can bolster support for missions at the base. He emphasized the importance of Space Development Agency investments in both GFAFB and Grand Forks.

“This is a good time to remember that without a strong and enduring mission on the Grand Forks Air Force Base, we wouldn’t have SDA choosing to grow in Grand Forks and North Dakota, we wouldn’t have a vibrant, attractive Grand Sky Tech Park, and we wouldn’t have a critical piece to our ecosystem feeding expertise and innovation to the University of North Dakota and Grand Forks small businesses,” said Cramer.

In 2010, GFAFB saw its last KC-135 Stratotanker depart, ending its air refueling mission. Despite this setback after a broken promise by the U.S. Air Force for another cargo or tanker mission, North Dakota gained recognition for Global Hawk Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) drones which arrived in 2011. This was followed by private sector investment in unmanned systems at the Grand Sky Business and Aviation Park. The state has maintained its relationship with unmanned ISR capabilities ever since. In August 2021, it was announced that the 319th Reconnaissance Wing would expand its operational units beyond Global Hawks to include E-11 Battlefield Airborne Control Node aircraft.

Cramer has been advocating for continued Air Force support of future ISR capabilities instead of retiring legacy systems while ensuring GFAFB plays a critical role.

“These unmanned aircraft are a perfect fit for our UAS-friendly airspace, our daily use and understanding of UAS, our existing radar structure, and North Dakota’s Northern Plains UAS Test Site that provides us expertise in getting permissions from the FAA and the FCC to fly unmanned systems,” he stated.

Cramer is working on attracting several new missions including temporary training deployments at GFAFB, deployment locations during home station maintenance or natural disasters, and counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) test missions. The Air Force plans to temporarily relocate 17 B-1 bombers to GFAFB early next year.

Cramer has also advocated for GFAFB to receive a Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) mission in the future.

“I believe so strongly that Collaborative Combat Aircraft will play a part in the future of Grand Forks, and frankly our Air Force,” Cramer added. “Palmer Luckey has broken the mold on how to innovate and advance UAS capabilities... His company Anduril was one of the first two companies to win a contract from the Air Force to build its Collaborative Combat Aircraft submission called Fury.”

Cramer will return to Grand Forks for the annual UAS Summit on October 8-9 with guest Palmer Luckey, founder of defense technology company Anduril Industries. Founded in 2017, Anduril focuses on autonomous drones and sensors for military applications.