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Project ULTRA Contract Ceiling Raised to $100M from $18M

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Project ULTRA Contract Ceiling Raised to $100M from $18M
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U.S. Sen. John Hoeven announced a $100 million contract ceiling extension for Project ULTRA that will allow expansion of UAS operations at GrandSKY. The ULTRA team, led by Grand Forks County, includes the Northern Plains UAS Test Site, which supports the development of uncrewed flight capabilities for the Department of Defense.

The public-private group, operating as Project ULTRA, successfully executed a variety of uncrewed operational test and evaluation (OT&E) flights through the National Airspace System (NAS). The team anticipates completing the execution of the second task order from the Department of Defense (DoD) regarding the integration of Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) in controlled airspace soon.

“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,” Hoeven said. “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.”

Project ULTRA (UAS Logistics, Traffic, Response and Autonomy) is an initiative under the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (OUSD A&S). Its purpose is to integrate UAS technology in part to support logistical operations for the U.S. military’s rapid and secure transportation needs.

“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,” he said.


The ULTRA team performed numerous test flights as part of the DoD’s Task Order 2. In April, there were 24 successful BVLOS flights in Class Delta and Echo airspace. During the current test period, the team expects to conduct 10 round-trip sorties between GrandSKY and Cavalier Space Force Station, covering over 100 nautical miles, round-trip. The UAVs carried 25-pound payloads, simulating standard supply loadouts for an austere battlefield environment.

“It took an immense amount of coordination, cooperation, and communication, just to get these flights in the air, much less complete,” Project ULTRA Director, retired Navy Cmdr. Chris Hewlett said. “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.”

As a stretch goal, the team will begin “blood flights” during the current operational test cycle. Plans call for three medical delivery flights—one for blood units, one for simulated blood units, and one for medical supplies.

“Using UAS to support rural health care is a rapidly growing opportunity,” Swoyer added. “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.”


Another major milestone for Project ULTRA, which further solidifies North Dakota’s leadership in unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and counter-UAS technology development, is that Project ULTRA has started conducting unmanned cargo flights between Grand Forks Air Force Base and Cavalier Space Force Station.

  • Under this initiative, the project partners will fly unmanned aircraft carrying up to 25 pounds of cargo between the two military installations on a weekly basis for the next year.
  • Importantly, this is the first such UAS operation on a military base flying through the national airspace (NAS) and without a chase plane.
  • By conducting such operations on a routine basis, Project ULTRA is writing the playbook for similar UAS operations at bases across the country.
  • The Project ULTRA partners undertaking the unmanned cargo flights include:
    • GrandSKY.
    • The Northern Plains UAS Test Site.
    • Grand Forks County.
    • Skyways, which is providing the aircraft.
    • Simulyze, which is providing the traffic management system.
    • Representatives from the Air Force, Navy and NASA.

Sources: GrandSky; Senator John Hoeven

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