03.28.14

Hoeven, Heitkamp, Cramer Working to Preserve, Provide for North Dakota Air Bases, Missions

WASHINGTON – Senators John Hoeven and Heidi Heitkamp and Congressman Kevin Cramer this week met separately with representatives from the Grand Forks Base Realignment Impact Committee (BRIC) and Minot’s Task Force 21, as well as leaders of the North Dakota National Guard. The delegation thanked the groups for their efforts to support the missions at North Dakota air bases and discussed the continued priorities and needs of the bases.

“North Dakota’s air bases are vitally important to both our state and our nation, helping to develop cutting-edge technologies and maintaining the most cost-effective leg of our nuclear triad,” the delegation said. “We are grateful for our communities’ continued support for our airmen and their missions. This week’s meetings mark another productive step as we continue our efforts in Congress to provide our service members with the resources they need to successfully complete their missions.”

The group discussed topics including the Global Hawk mission, the Enhanced Use Lease (EUL) and the Grand Sky unmanned aerial systems (UAS) technology park at the Grand Forks Air Force Base (GFAFB), maintaining our nation’s nuclear deterrent and sustaining strategic systems at the Minot Air Force Base (MAFB), and the Air Guard’s Predator and new intelligence targeting group missions.

The delegation is working on a host of North Dakota defense priorities, including supporting current and future operations and infrastructure at each installation. The North Dakota leaders have been working to prevent the Department of Defense from eliminating ICBM silos and to bolster unmanned aerial missions, including the Global Hawk aircraft and the Predator aircraft.