Grand Forks Air Force Base Opens Repaired Runway, Strengthening Future Aircraft Operations

Cramer Championed Funding for Project in NDAA

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GRAND FORKS, N.D. - An essential runway at Grand Forks Air Force Base is ready for takeoff, marking a major milestone for the installation's future aircraft operations and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) mission. U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined base leadership today to celebrate the completion of repairs to Runway 18/36, which supports the base's RQ-4 Global Hawk mission.

The Global Hawk is a critical piece of ISR, sending the intelligence signals it captures to analysts who translate the raw data into battlefield tactics-including in Operation Epic Fury. The runway's deteriorating pavement had raised concerns about its long-term viability, and after a 2020 evaluation identified cracking and weathering, Cramer, chairman of the Senate Armed Services (SASC) Airland Subcommittee, championed a project to secure $1.9 million in planning and design for the required repairs in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Cramer's efforts helped place the runway repair on the Air Force's Facilities Sustainment, Restoration, and Modernization Construction Tasking Order, paving the way for the project to be awarded. The project resurfaced 171,167 square yards of asphalt, restoring the runway to support the base's ongoing and future missions.

"I joined Senate Armed Services because I knew how important, but how unrecognized Grand Forks is, and how these northern bases are there for a reason," said Cramer. "The runway is the heart of an airbase, so this was the perfect opportunity to advance the current mission and its unlimited potential."

Without congressional action, the earliest opportunity to prioritize the project through the Future Years Defense Program would have been fiscal year 2028-risking the Global Hawks and other airborne assets being left on the sidelines when they were needed most. Instead, construction began in May 2026, and the project was completed on schedule in September.

Following the publication of the 2020 evaluation, Cramer worked for several years to address the runway's deteriorating condition. In 2024, he brought then-Air Combat Command Commander General Wilsbach to Grand Forks Air Force Base to discuss the runway's needs. In 2025, Cramer and then-Air Force Vice Chief of Staff General Jim Slife toured the runway to assess its condition.