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 usefulness is rising within the military, Cramer and others have said, as it specializes in state-of-the-art unmanned aerial systems while making important connections with nearby GrandSky, a growing UAS business park adjacent to the base that is host to national UAS tech companies.
With all that in place, Cramer said, it’s important that the community enhance other amenities that will catch the attention of the Air Force and its decision-makers. “As much as anything right now is making sure we have the other things – quality of life, the intangibles, housing, health care and education. Grand Forks and the base have some incredible assets,” Cramer said, adding that he believes GrandSky has added an attractiveness to the base because it is an example of private technology that can aid future military operations.
ADVERTISEMENT “There would be no GrandSky without a vibrant Air Force base, but I’m not sure there would be a vibrant Air Force base without GrandSky, either,” he said. “So I’ve said 'let me know if there is another CEO you need to make a pitch to.'” Wednesday, the group making the rounds with Cramer included Space Development Agency Director Derek Tournear, who has regularly visited Grand Forks, as well as Greg Wyler, CEO of California-based E-Space, which recently secured a Department of Defense satellite contract.
“We’re building up our systems now and factory to support these needs,” said Wyler, who said this is his third space venture. He said his visit this week is to get a feel for Grand Forks. He apparently has no plans yet in place to set up shop here, but he wants to get a first-hand look at the community.
“I’m here to learn about it, to see the interactions with the people, the workforce capabilities and the educational capabilities here,” Wyler said. Cramer on Wednesday also ceremonially opened the new SDA operations center at the base. As reported last month by the Herald , the center will eventually operate more than 100 satellites by the end of 2025.
When Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D.
, visited the site last month, he called it “the tip of the spear.” “This is the stuff that goes up against Russia and China,” Hoeven said at the time. ADVERTISEMENT On Wednesday, Tournear explained it further.
He noted that at GFAFB, there are multiple buildings from which SDA operates. One is “the operations center for what will be the operational PWSA (Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture) constellation. That is what will be hundreds of satellites in orbit to provide low-latency communication directly to the warfighter, and also immediate missile-warning missile-tracking that isn’t done today.
” Another, he said, is a “technology acceleration center.” And adjacent to that in the same facility is the “advanced fire control ops center,” which went online Wednesday. “Building 542, the ops center that we turned operational today, will be flying by the end of next calendar year about 160 satellites that are part of PWSA," Tournear said.
"That’s why that one is all built out and we have teams in there working daily now, making sure all the networks are working and going through simulations and essentially getting ready for those launches.” Cramer said turning on the system was a “big highlight for me.”.
