America’s first unmanned aerial systems business and aviation park has officially entered the construction phase. About 200 guests including officials from Northrop Grumman, Grand Forks County and Grand Forks Air Force Base gathered for the groundbreaking ceremony of the new Grand Sky UAS tech park after a highly publicized enhanced use lease signing earlier this year.
Colonel Rodney Lewis, 319th Air Base Wing commander, touched briefly on a meeting he had with other Grand Forks AFB senior leaders where they discussed their vision for the base going forward.
“We really wanted to make sure we had a good vision for the base in terms of how we communicate what’s going to happen here not only today, but in the future,” he said. “So we came up with our vision which is ‘One Grand Forks Air Force Base, Defending Freedom.’ And ‘One Grand Forks Air Force Base’ means its relationship between all the entities that are on this base. This is a conglomerate of all people working together to defend freedom, and that’s what I see with the EUL and Grand Sky.”
North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple delivered the keynote address. Tom Falck, Grand Forks County commissioner, and Thomas Swoyer, Grand Sky Development Co. president, offered remarks as well ahead of the groundbreaking.
North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple addresses the special guests present at the groundbreaking ceremony
U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., and U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., were unable to attend the event in person, but sent their regards in the form of letters and video messages to the group.
The park is being billed as a public-public-private partnership, with the Air Force leasing the land being used for Grand Sky to Grand Forks County, which is in turn leasing that land to Grand Sky Development Co.
Northrop Grumman is the facility’s anchor tenant, but hopes to expand to include more aerospace companies like General Atomics.
The park occupies 217 acres of land adjacent to Grand Forks Air Force Base. The project is broken down into three phases; first an office building, followed by a hangar, followed by additional office space. The first office building is set to host its first occupants about a year from now.
Photos: U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Susan L. Davis
Source: Grand Forks Air Force Base