Hoeven: President’s Budget Includes $250 Million to Expand Space Operations at Grand Forks Air Force Base

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven, a member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee, this week spoke with Space Force Chief of Operations General Chance Saltzman about the U.S. Space Force proposal to construct a $250 million Space Operations Center at Grand Forks Air Force Base (GFAFB) as part of the president’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 budget request. The proposal would bring to Grand Forks: A more than 180,000 square foot center fully equipped as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF). Highly-classified operations supporting both Space Force and National Reconnaissance Office missions covering: Missile warning and missile tracking. The space data network. More than 100 personnel across two to three fully manned squadrons. The proposal builds upon the low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite mission that Hoeven worked to fund and establish at GFAFB, which will serve as the backbone of all U.S. military communications. Importantly, Hoeven has been working to ensure the LEO mission included support for missile tracking and advanced fire control , consistent with the proposal from the Space Force. Through his role on the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee, Hoeven will work to secure the funding needed to support the Space Force expansion in Grand Forks, with the design phase of the new facility expected to start later this year. “This $250 million project is a major expansion of the space operations that we’ve worked to bring to Grand Forks, truly securing our state’s role in the future of military communications and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance,” said Hoeven. “This started with the LEO satellite mission that we worked with then-Space Development Agency Administrator Derek Tournear to establish. Since then, we have sought to add new capabilities to the satellite mission and build partnerships with the region’s high-tech ecosystem. So, when the Space Force outgrew its existing operations center at Schriever Space Force Base in Colorado, North Dakota was an obvious choice for expansion. Now, we will work to fund this project through the annual appropriations process so we can start moving forward on design and construction.” -###-