GRAND FORKS – U.S. Sen.
Kevin Cramer on Wednesday told Grand Forks Mayor Mayor Brandon Bochenski and members of a local Air Force base retention committee that Grand Forks has the intangibles to see more missions come to Grand Forks Air Force Base, thus solidifying its standing in the Air Force and its future in the community. Cramer spent the day in town participating in a meeting with the local Base Retention and Enhancement Committee, overseeing the coming online of a new operations center at the base and showing the community to a California entrepreneur. At the meeting with the local committee, Cramer – a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee – stressed to attendees that a strong support network for the base is important, especially as the Air Force considers placements of future missions.
ADVERTISEMENT During the meeting with Grand Forks’ base committee earlier in the day, Cramer spoke about a possible CCA – collaborative combat aircraft – mission. He told attendees at the meeting that he believes “so strongly” that CCA will be a part of Grand Forks’ future. “I believe Grand Forks is as situated to be a CCA base as any,” he later told the Herald.
Also, as reported last week by the Herald, the Air Force is working to bring 17 B-1 bombers to the base – albeit temporarily – early next year. “The beauty of Grand Forks Air Force Base ..
. is that it is a giant slab of cement that is greatly underutilized,” Cramer told the Herald. Yet its .