A historic day as the Grand Forks Air Force takes a big step forward in securing a first of its kind drone-based business park. A new lease agreement of the airstrip means it will be shared for military and civilian use.
A vital component Wednesday for the highly anticipated Grand Sky business park at the Grand Forks Air Force Base – a 50-year lease agreement signed by the Air Force and Grand Forks County Commissioner who will deal with big Unmanned Aerial Systems Businesses coming to town like Northrop Grumman and General Atomics.
Sen. John Hoeven: “It’s a one of a kind partnership that portends great things for the future of aviation technology.”
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp: “We are not exaggerating the significant of this, not just to the region, but the overall protection of our country.”
Quite the turnaround, considering just 10 years ago the Pentagon announced it could be closing 180 military bases nationwide.
At that time, proposals were up to cut the Grand Forks Air Force Base down by 85%, a move that would have seriously impacted the Grand Forks community by potentially cutting around 2000 jobs.
But, the mission changed and a move to concentrate on drones looks like it’s going to pay off in a big way for the community and the Base.
Rep. Kevin Cramer: “But none of it can ever jeopardize the mission. In fact, to this point, it’s always enhanced the mission.”
Hoeven: “The big kahuna here is developing concurrent airspace use, meaning flying manned and unmanned aircraft in the national airspace over our country.”
Officials say it’s the first place in the country where there is coordination between military and civilian and manned and unmanned aircraft. After netting two industry leaders in UAS technology, the hope is more could follow suit leading to healthy growth of jobs and a resource for our armed services.
There’s already been more than $7 million in work done on infrastructure, and test flights have already launched.
Source: WDAZ8