GRAND FORKS – Senator John Hoeven has announced a pair of developments in counter-drone operations in the Red River Valley.
The announcements came Monday at a reception to kick off the UAS Summit in Grand Forks, which kicks off Tuesday.
The U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC) has selected Grand Forks Air Force Base as the home of the new Point Defense Battle Lab, Hoeven said.
The lab is part of the service’s effort to develop and test advanced technologies to defend installations from small, unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) threats and will work to rapidly test and validate technologies that can help defend specific locations against UAS threats, aligning closely with the work of Project ULTRA. The specific details of the lab’s operations will be developed in the coming months, and Hoeven will work with the ACC to best leverage the existing partnerships in the region.
The Senator also announced that AeroVironment is bringing its counter-UAS system, AV Halo, to GrandSKY.
Earlier this year, AeroVironment acquired BlueHalo, a company that Hoeven previously worked to partner with the Sky Range program and Grand Forks Air Force Base, having secured a total of nearly $16 million for those efforts. AV Halo will be immediately positioned to support both Project ULTRA’s counter-drone research and testing as well as that of the new ACC battle lab.
“Our efforts to bring both the Point Defense Battle Lab and AV Halo to the region truly add to the unique UAS ecosystem we’ve built in Grand Forks, further securing our role as the premier location for unmanned aviation, including drone and counter-drone research and testing. Importantly, these two announcements work in tandem. The Air Force needs help to address UAS threats, particularly those to our domestic bases, while companies like AeroVironment have the technical solutions the Air Force needs,” said Hoeven. “We’ve seen in Israel and Ukraine how drones are being used to wage war in new and dangerous ways. Between Project ULTRA at GrandSKY, the Northern Plains UAS Test Site and the Grand Forks Air Force Base, the capabilities and partnerships we’ve built in this region will enable our nation to tackle this emerging threat.”
