Hoeven Marks Two Major Milestones For Project Ultra, Outlines Future Of Drone & Counter-Drone Initiative

Hoeven Marks Two Major Milestones For Project Ultra, Outlines Future Of Drone & Counter-Drone Initiative

Senator Highlights Weekly Unmanned Cargo Flights Between Grand Forks & Cavalier, Secured Increased $100 Million Contract Ceiling for Project ULTRA

EMERADO, N.D. - Senator John Hoeven today outlined two major milestones for Project ULTRA, which further solidify North Dakota's leadership in unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and counter-UAS technology development:

• Project ULTRA has started conducting unmanned cargo flights between Grand Forks Air Force Base and Cavalier Space Force Station.
  • Under this initiative, the project partners will fly unmanned aircraft carrying up to 25 pounds of cargo between the two military installations on a weekly basis for the next year.
  • Importantly, this is the first such UAS operation on a military base flying through the national airspace (NAS) and without a chase plane.
  • By conducting such operations on a routine basis, Project ULTRA is writing the playbook for similar UAS operations at bases across the country.
• Hoeven has secured an agreement in principle with the Department of Defense (DoD) to increase the contract ceiling for Project ULTRA to $100 million, up from $18 million.
  • The higher funding ceiling creates the opportunity for all military services to connect with expertise in the private sector utilizing Project ULTRA.
  • This will enable DoD to more cost-effectively and quickly develop the capabilities it needs, including counter-drone technology.

All of Project ULTRA's funding is made available through annual defense appropriations legislation, which Hoeven helps write as a member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee. These efforts are further bolstered by legislation Hoeven drafted authorizing the Air Force to conduct a pilot project that would use drones to resupply remote facilities that support nuclear missiles, like those in Minot. Hoeven's legislation is included in the Senate's Fiscal Year (FY) 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 Project ULTRA partners undertaking the unmanned cargo flights include:

• GrandSKY.
• The Northern Plains UAS Test Site.
• Grand Forks County.
• Skyways, which is providing the aircraft.
• Simulyze, which is providing the traffic management system.
• Representatives from the Air Force, Navy and NASA.

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