{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hoeven.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/hoeven-showcases-north-dakota-uas-ecosystem-for-army-undersecretary", "Hoeven Showcases North Dakota UAS Ecosystem for Army Undersecretary", "2026-09-02", "2026", "2026-09", "Republican", "Senate", "ND", "John Hoeven", "H001061", "www.hoeven.senate.gov", "hoeven", "https://www.hoeven.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "EMERADO, N.D. \u2013 Senator John Hoeven today showcased North Dakota\u2019s unmanned aerial systems (UAS) ecosystem for Undersecretary of the Army Michael Obadal in a bid to demonstrate how Army counter-drone research and development can benefit from the work that is ongoing in the state. During tours of the Grand Forks Air Force Base (GFAFB) and GrandSKY, as well as in a meeting with UAS and counter-UAS researchers from the University of North Dakota (UND), Hoeven highlighted:\n\nProject ULTRA, stressing how the initiative takes an innovative approach to defense contracting, helping the military to develop and deploy the capabilities it needs more quickly and at a lower cost to taxpayers.\n\nProject ULTRA is currently working to develop cost-effective measures to detect and neutralize threats from unmanned aircraft, while also expanding the practical applications of UAS through unmanned cargo flights between GFAFB and Cavalier Space Force Station.\n\nHoeven established and funded Project ULTRA and subsequently secured an increased contract ceiling of $100 million to support future expansions of the initiative\u2019s drone and counter-drone operations.\n\nPoint Defense Battle Lab, which tests and validates advanced technologies, tactics, techniques and procedures to defend military installations from small, unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) threats.\n\nHoeven worked with Air Force leadership to advance Grand Forks\u2019 selection for the battle lab.\n\nUND research into drone and counter-drone technologies.\n\nHoeven is working to advance a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between UND and the Joint Inter Agency Task Force 401 (JIATF 401), which is tasked with coordinating U.S. counter-drone defenses.\n\nThe MOU will be the first of its kind, giving UND a critical role in identifying promising counter-UAS technologies that warrant further evaluation and development by JIATF 401.\n\nThe Technology Readiness Experimentation (T-REX) event, a two-week event held last month at GFAFB, GrandSKY and Camp Grafton where companies with promising drone and counter-drone technology were able to demonstrate their capabilities to the Department of War.\n\n\u201cFor those that want to develop drone and counter-drone technologies, North Dakota is the place to be. We made that point clearly to Undersecretary Obadal during his visit today,\u201d said Hoeven. \u201cToday\u2019s event was an opportunity to showcase the exciting and innovative work being done by the Grand Forks Air Force Base, GrandSKY, UND and their partners. We already have counter-UAS work underway with the Point Defense Battle Lab and Project ULTRA, and we have even more developments in the works with UND, JIATF 401 and others, so we\u2019re well-equipped to meet this critical defense need for the Army.\u201d\n\n-###-", 1, "2026-09-03T09:29:33Z", "2026-09-03T09:31:32Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hoeven.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/hoeven-showcases-north-dakota-uas-ecosystem-for-army-undersecretary"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6962289810180664, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}