The nation’s first industrial UAS park is constructing a $100M counter-drone testing middle as drone threats escalate. That’s GrandSKY, the nation’s first industrial unmanned plane enterprise park.
GrandSKY introduced this week that it has deployed a foundational counter-drone structure at Grand Forks Air Drive Base in North Dakota. To construct it, it’s partnering with protection big AeroVironment. Officers have stated they hope their mannequin might change into a nationwide middle of excellence for counter-UAS operations.
The deployment, which incorporates AeroVironment’s AV_Halo COMMAND software program and Titan-SV radio frequency-based counter-UAS system, represents the primary section of a complete, layered protection system centered on detecting, figuring out and monitoring unmanned aerial threats. The initiative is a part of what’s referred to as Challenge ULTRA. Challenge ULTRA is a $100 million public-private effort to place Grand Forks because the nation’s proving floor for superior counter-drone protection.
“We’re constructing the way forward for air protection proper right here in North Dakota,” stated GrandSKY President Thomas Swoyer Jr in a ready assertion. “This deployment displays the strategic evolution of GrandSKY because it endeavors to create a nationwide counter-UAS middle of excellence.”
The announcement comes as navy and safety officers worldwide grapple with the quickly evolving menace of small drones. From industrial quadcopters weaponized in Ukraine to swarms threatening navy installations, the proliferation of drones has created what protection consultants describe as some of the urgent tactical challenges of contemporary warfare.
The AeroVironment issue
AeroVironment has emerged as a serious participant in each side of the drone equation. It’s the U.S. navy’s high provider of small drones, and it’s additionally more and more as a supplier of techniques to counter them. The Virginia-based protection contractor, which trades on NASDAQ below the ticker AVAV, has seen its inventory surge over 160% up to now six months, pushed by hovering demand for its unmanned techniques and a large NATO protection spending dedication introduced earlier this yr.
AeroVironment has remodeled from what analysts as soon as described as a distinct segment drone maker into an built-in protection know-how powerhouse. By strategic acquisitions, together with the $405 million buy of Arcturus UAV in 2021 and the more moderen BlueHalo acquisition, AeroVironment has expanded past primary reconnaissance drones into loitering munitions, counter-UAS techniques, directed vitality weapons and cyber capabilities.
Its Switchblade loitering munitions — primarily kamikaze drones — have gained explicit prominence. The techniques are available in two configurations: the Switchblade 300 for attacking personnel and the bigger Switchblade 600 for taking out armored automobiles. In 2023, Israel requested 200 Switchblade 600 items from the U.S. Division of Protection.
However it’s the counter-drone facet of AeroVironment’s enterprise that’s more and more attracting consideration. With drones proliferating globally and turning into cheaper and extra succesful, the marketplace for techniques to detect and defeat them has exploded. NATO’s pledge to extend protection spending to five% of GDP by 2035 (that’s up from the earlier 2% goal) has created what one analyst referred to as a “$2.7 trillion enhance” for protection contractors, with drone and counter-drone techniques positioned as main beneficiaries.
The counter-drone problem
The deployment at GrandSKY addresses a essential vulnerability in fashionable air protection. Conventional radar and air protection techniques had been designed to detect massive, fast-moving plane, not small drones that may value as little as just a few hundred {dollars} however require million-dollar missiles to shoot down.
The answer as carried out at Grand Forks includes layered defenses combining a number of detection strategies resembling radio frequency sensors, radar and optical techniques. AeroVironment can be leaning into AI-powered software program to handle threats.
For North Dakota, the GrandSKY initiative represents a strategic play to place the state on the forefront of drone know-how, one thing it has lengthy sought to do. The 217-acre facility already gives industry-leading facilities together with over 11,000 sq. miles of beyond-visual-line-of-sight functionality and 24/7 operations, leveraging its partnership with Grand Forks Air Drive Base.
Senator John Hoeven, who introduced the deployment, emphasised each the financial and safety dimensions.
“Grand Forks continues to play an important position in strengthening each North Dakota’s financial system and America’s nationwide safety,” he stated. “By leveraging these confirmed applied sciences at GrandSKY, we’re making certain our state stays on the forefront of innovation.”
The deployment builds on a memorandum of understanding signed between GrandSKY and AeroVironment in March 2025, which formalized their cooperation on Challenge ULTRA. The initiative envisions Grand Forks turning into a hub the place authorities, navy, and personal sector companions can check, develop and validate counter-drone applied sciences in real-world circumstances.
AeroVironment CEO Wahid Nawabi referred to as the Grand Forks deployment “an necessary step towards constructing a layered protection system for the nation towards continuously evolving drone threats.”
GrandSky’s tech accelerator grows
The information comes on the heels of one other latest announcement: GrandSKY, and its affiliate GFHive Administration LLC, have gained a five-year contract to handle and function The HIVE, a know-how accelerator and shared workspace devoted to rising the area’s UAS ecosystem.
“Collectively, Grand Forks and GrandSKY have constructed world-class infrastructure that helps an ecosystem that leads the nation in autonomous techniques and helps the protection of our nation,” Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski stated. “This partnership with Grand Sky and the city-owned Hive in downtown Grand Forks, will proceed to draw high firms main innovation in aerospace, UAS, and edge-processing to safe long-term financial advantages for the group and state.”
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