Peace Garden News

The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded nearly $20 million to United Crane and Excavation, a company based in Grand Forks, North Dakota, for runway repairs at the Grand Forks Air Force Base. Senator John Hoeven announced the award earlier this week.

Senator Hoeven, who is a member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee, helped secure funding for the project through Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations legislation. He has also been urging the Air Force to move forward quickly with the repairs so that the base can continue supporting current and future missions.

These missions include unmanned operations at Grand Sky such as MQ-9 flights and activities under Project ULTRA, Customs and Border Protection unmanned flights, and potential future intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations.

Hoeven stated: “The Grand Forks Air Force Base is at the center of many critical missions and defense priorities for our nation, including the current Global Hawk mission, the UAS research and development at Grand Sky through Project ULTRA and unmanned border protection operations. That’s why we worked to advance this nearly $20 million award to accelerate runway repairs at the base, which are needed to ensure the base continues to have the capacity to support these and other future missions, like additional ISR operations, that we are working to bring to the base.”