Hoeven Wraps Up Statewide Military Tour in Fargo, Outlining ND’s Military Leadership
Senator Highlights FY24 Defense Funding for ND Air Guard, R&D in Fargo
FARGO, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven, a member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee, today met with the Fargo Moorhead West Fargo (FMWF) Chamber Military Affairs Committee and community business leaders in the last stop of his statewide military tour. Over the past week, Hoeven has outlined North Dakota’s growing role in the nation’s defense and the priorities he secured in the defense appropriations legislation, which increases defense spending by 3 percent and includes a 5.2 percent raise for military members, including:
- Minot: Advances modernization of the nuclear triad, including missions at Minot Air Force Base, the nation’s only dual-nuclear base. This includes funding to:
- Upgrade the new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
- Procure the new MH-139 Grey Wolf helicopters, the replacement for the Huey.
- Update the B-52 bomber, including new engines, and develop the new the Long Range Standoff Weapon (LRSO), which will be carried on the B-52.
- Grand Forks: Provides full-funding for the Space Development Agency (SDA) and Test Resource Management Center (TRMC) to execute their missions at Grand Forks and keep it the tip of the spear for space and hypersonic missions, including:
- Support for the SDA low-Earth orbit satellite mission at Grand Forks AFB.
- TRMC’s Sky Range hypersonic missile testing program at Grand Sky.
- Statewide Defense Research and Development: More than $100 million for defense research and development including innovative projects in Bismarck, Grand Forks and Fargo. The senator will be talking about more of these projects in the future as well.
“North Dakota has always played a vital role in our national defense, from our Air Force Bases in Minot and Grand Forks, to our highly decorated and dedicated National Guard,” said Hoeven. “Our Air Guard based here in Fargo is the best in the nation, with the Happy Hooligans’ Reaper mission more important than ever given events around the globe. The FY24 Defense appropriations bill provides important funding to continue upgrading the Reapers and at the same time, we secured important federal funding for research and development taking place here in Fargo, including by Packet Digital and Elinor Coatings, to ensure we maintain our military assets and have the latest and greatest technologies for our troops.”
Hoeven highlighted funding for mission upgrades for the Happy Hooligans, the North Dakota Air Guard unit based in Fargo, as well as examples of defense research and development taking place in Fargo using the more than $100 million the senator secured for defense projects across North Dakota.
Air Guard Reaper Upgrades
Hoeven is working to upgrade the Happy Hooligan’s Reaper mission from the Block 1 to the Block 5, and helped secure $179 million in the FY24 Defense funding bill for the Air National Guard to continue upgrading the Reaper fleet. Plans are for three of the new Block 5s to be stationed permanently at the 119th, which currently operates 9 Reapers.
Guard Operations Center & Transition to Sky Range Data Center
Hoeven discussed the Guard’s transition to the new MQ-9 Reaper Operations Center in Fargo and repurposing of the old facility for use by the TRMC Sky Range Program. Hoeven has worked to:
· Secure $17.5 million in FY21 Military Construction funding to build a new MQ-9 Reaper Operations Facility in Fargo, a state-of-the-art facility that allows the 119th Operations Group to continue to execute their State and Federal MQ-9 Reaper missions at the highest level.
· Accelerate the construction funding and completion of the facility, which was dedicated last October.
The Wing expects to be fully transitioned into the new facility this fall, and at that point, the old MQ-9 ops facility will be repurposed as a data center to support TRMC’s Sky Range program, an innovative way to gather information from hypersonic missile tests using refurbished Global Hawks and MQ-9s. TRMC will open a data center in Fargo to support its hypersonic tests starting in 2025.
Elinor Coatings - $10 million for Coatings Research
Elinor, which works out of five labs in Fargo, is developing high performance coatings and application technologies that will save taxpayer dollars and increase military readiness. Hoeven secured $10 million in FY24 funding for coatings research, which is on top of the nearly $20 million Hoeven has previously secured for the company. The FY24 funds will be used to:
· Continue Elinor’s project providing the U.S. Army with coatings for its helicopter fleet.
· Enhance Elinor’s capacity to produce materials to keep aging aircraft viable.
· Provide extensive testing of materials that are able to hold up in cold weather climates.
Packet Digital - $9.8 Million for Navy Batteries and Charging Equipment
Hoeven secured $9.8 million for Packet Digital in the FY24 defense bill for development and production of advanced batteries for the U.S. Navy. With this funding, Hoeven has helped secured more than $35 million in defense research and development funding for Packet Digital from FY21-FY24. Packet Digital expects to use the FY24 funding to:
· Continue developing batteries and charging equipment for the U.S. Navy
· Develop a new 80,000 square-foot battery cell production facility. The new facility is in addition to a 25,000 square-foot facility Packet Digital opened in December to assemble batteries and charging stations.
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