Peace Garden News

Senator John Hoeven has announced two significant developments for Project ULTRA, an initiative aimed at advancing unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and counter-UAS technologies in North Dakota. The project has begun conducting weekly unmanned cargo flights between Grand Forks Air Force Base and Cavalier Space Force Station. These flights use drones capable of carrying up to 25 pounds of cargo and mark the first instance of such UAS operations on a military base through national airspace without the support of a chase plane. This ongoing operation is intended to serve as a model for similar drone logistics missions at other bases nationwide.

Additionally, Senator Hoeven secured an agreement in principle with the Department of Defense to raise Project ULTRA’s contract ceiling from $18 million to $100 million. This expanded funding will allow all branches of the military to engage more extensively with private sector partners via Project ULTRA, supporting faster and more cost-effective development of new capabilities, including technology designed to counter hostile drones.

All funding for Project ULTRA is provided through annual defense appropriations legislation that Senator Hoeven helps draft as part of his role on the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee. He also authored legislation enabling the Air Force to run a pilot project using drones for resupplying remote facilities linked to nuclear missile support—a provision included in the Senate’s Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act.

“Today marks two major milestones for Project ULTRA – the beginning of weekly UAS cargo flights between two military bases and an increase of the initiative’s contract ceiling to $100 million,” said Senator Hoeven. “We’re leveraging this funding and the ecosystem we’ve been building in our state since 2005 to connect all of our military branches with even more private sector partners to realize a wide range of new capabilities, from innovative and efficient uses of UAS to protecting our military bases against threats from drones. That’s a big deal, because drone technology is front and center everywhere you look, whether in Ukraine and Russia, the Middle East, our military or the civilian sector. North Dakota will continue leading the way, due in large part to the good work of GrandSKY, the Northern Plains UAS Test Site and their partners to deliver results for our military that are on-time and on-budget.”

The group managing these unmanned cargo flights includes GrandSKY, Northern Plains UAS Test Site, Grand Forks County, Skyways—which supplies aircraft—and Simulyze—responsible for traffic management systems—as well as representatives from multiple branches including the Air Force, Navy, and NASA.