GRAND FORKS — The Defense Department signed off on a combined $24 million in new funding toward two projects tied to Grand Forks Air Force Base.
The Pentagon awarded funding for a renovation project contracted by the 319th Reconnaissance Wing, the base’s host unit, and added more dollars onto an existing Space Development Agency contract tied to the Grand Forks-based Operations Center North, according to a release.
Gideon Contracting LLC of San Antonio, Texas, received the $14.2 million for a “comprehensive dorm renovation” that is set to be completed by March 2026.
Base spokesperson MSgt. BreeAnn Sachs said the project will modernize the 64-year-old Bunch Hall and provide private bathrooms for each of its 68 dormitory rooms.
Defense contractor General Dynamics, on the other hand, is receiving another $10 million for its work on the
Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture,
a network of low-earth orbit satellites that serve as a high-speed communications network and is expected to develop into an advanced fire control system.
The funding increase raises the value of the General Dynamics contract to $939 million.
The contract extension is to develop a “network and encryption test bed” to make sure the space agency’s two operations sites can talk to the satellite network and each other when transmitting encrypted data, as well as transmit that data from outside the two sites.
“This is going to make sure all the data can work together,” said Brian Mosley, site director for Operations Center North.
Grand Forks hosts one of two operations centers for the satellite network in the United States; the other is based at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, though Mosley said the “test bed” will actually be based out of servers at General Dynamics’ Scottsdale, Arizona campus.
U.S. Sens. John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer both released statements in response to the General Dynamics contract extension.
“This additional $10 million in funding will help support a critical aspect of the LEO satellite mission — ensuring the secure and efficient movement of mission-critical information,” said Hoeven, R-N.D.
“You’ve heard me many times say that the United States has to develop space assets at the speed of China, and that clearly takes some major investments,” read the statement from Cramer, R-N.D. “The contract to General Dynamics Mission Systems certainly acknowledges that reality, and highlights, of course, the importance of North Dakota in that effort.”
Cramer also acknowledged the dorm renovation contract, calling it a “critical investment in upgrading housing for our airmen at Grand Forks.”
Joshua Irvine covers K-12 and higher education as well as the Grand Forks County Commission for the Grand Forks Herald. He can be reached at jirvine@gfherald.com.