Hoeven Calls on Air Force to Base Manned E-11A Aircraft at GFAFB Along With Global Hawk Block 20
Press Release
Senator John Hoeven today wrote to Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James asking that the manned E-11A aircraft be based at Grand Forks Air Force Base (GFAFB) along with the Global Hawk Block 20 already based at the base. Both aircraft are capable of performing the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) mission.
BACN provides a critical communications capability for our troops overseas. Hoeven told Secretary James that the BACN mission is a valuable asset and should be made a permanent Air Force program. Because the Grand Forks Air Force Base is already home to Global Hawk Block 20 aircraft, the senator made the case that the North Dakota base is a cost-effective, logical host for the BACN program if the manned E-11A were also based there.
BACN was designed in response to the urgent operational needs of deployed forces and provides excellent communications capabilities at relatively low cost, making it both important to the nation's defense and cost-effective at a time when the military is under tremendous budget pressure.
"The Air Force can make BACN permanent by using existing facilities at Grand Forks Air Force Base, minimizing costs while retaining a critical communications capability important to our national defense," said Hoeven. "In addition to the BACN mission and the Global Hawk Block 20, Grand Forks Air Force Base already hosts the Global Hawk Block 40 and is preparing to lease additional space at the base for contractor operations. That creates opportunity to locate BACN-related contractors to Grand Sky at minimal expense."
Grand Forks is also home to Grand Sky, the region's state-of-the-art aerospace business and technology park on the GFAFB. The new high-tech complex will provide cutting-edge facilities for unmanned aerial systems.
In addition, the last Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization bill passed by Congress includes an amendment authored and introduced by Hoeven that directed the agency to establish six UAS test sites across the nation to integrate UAS into the National Airspace System. In December, Grand Forks was selected as one of the sites.
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