North Dakota initiative expands UAS operations for military logistics and counter-drone innovation
North Dakota’s Project ULTRA Expands Operations and Funding
Project ULTRA, a key Department of Defense initiative based in North Dakota, has reached two major milestones that strengthen the state’s role in advancing uncrewed aerial systems (UAS). Senator John Hoeven announced that the project’s contract ceiling has increased from $18 million to $100 million and that weekly unmanned cargo flights are now underway between Grand Forks Air Force Base and Cavalier Space Force Station.
“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.”
Project ULTRA (UAS Logistics, Traffic, Response and Autonomy) is managed by a public-private team led by Grand Forks County. The team includes GrandSKY, the Northern Plains UAS Test Site, and private companies such as Skyways and Simulyze. Skyways provides the aircraft for the cargo missions, while Simulyze delivers the traffic management system.
Weekly Uncrewed Flights Through National Airspace Begin
Project ULTRA drone cargo flights carrying up to 25 pounds between the two military installations have begun. This marks the first time that a military base is using UAS to fly through the National Airspace System (NAS) without a chase plane.
By flying these missions routinely over the next year, the ULTRA team is creating a model for other military bases to adopt similar drone logistics operations.
“It took an immense amount of coordination, cooperation, and communication, just to get these flights in the air, much less complete,” said Project ULTRA Director, retired Navy Cmdr. Chris Hewlett. “But this should not be easy. You need to be able to demonstrate that you can follow the procedures, cross your T’s, and dot your I’s. The next step is demonstrating the ability to build an operation that is sustainable, repeatable, and scalable.”
Project ULTRA Drone Cargo Flights Pave Way for Expanded UAS Use
The team has already completed 24 successful Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flights in Class Delta and Echo airspace. During the current test cycle, they plan to perform 10 round-trip sorties between GrandSKY and Cavalier Space Force Station—each covering more than 100 nautical miles.
“Using UAS to support rural health care is a rapidly growing opportunity,” said GrandSKY President Thomas Swoyer Jr. “From prescription and small device delivery to blood products and emergency support, UAS offers a huge opportunity to improve medical support on the battlefield, and those lessons learned translate to rural health care.”
As a stretch goal, the team is also conducting “blood flights,” including three medical delivery missions—one with blood units, one with simulated blood, and one with medical supplies.
“While not part of the original project plan for ULTRA, we were excited to include this demonstration in our field work this week,” said Hewlett. “Completing these flights is another way to showcase how public-private collaboration can accelerate innovation and strengthen our leadership in autonomous aviation.”
Future Vision and Broader Impact
Project ULTRA is supported by funding through annual defense appropriations legislation, which Senator Hoeven helps shape as a member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee. He also authored legislation included in the Senate’s Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act. That legislation calls for a pilot program to use drones to resupply remote facilities supporting nuclear missiles, such as those in Minot.
According to Swoyer, “The contract ceiling extension gives us the ability to do more innovative and collaborative work. Now it is on us to bring that work and funding to GrandSKY.”
Swoyer added that strong collaboration between military bases and local partners makes the program possible: “Our close relationships with Cavalier Space Force Station and Grand Forks Air Force Base, and our partnership with Grand Forks County have allowed us to come together to develop this world-class team and capabilities for UAS innovation with an impressive infrastructure to support Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flight operations.”
Senator Hoeven concluded, “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.”
About GrandSKY
GrandSKY is a 217-acre UAS-focused flight operations center located on Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota. It offers tenants access to an 11,000-square-mile BVLOS range, Air Force runway and tower support, and commercial-grade infrastructure. GrandSKY supports both civilian and military UAS operations around the clock. For more information, visit grandskynd.com.
Read more:
Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.
For drone industry consulting or writing, Email Miriam.
TWITTER:@spaldingbarker
Subscribe to DroneLife here.
Leave a Reply