FARGO (KFGO/KVRR) — North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven has announced that Sky Range is bringing its hypersonic missile testing program to Hector International Airport in Fargo.
The company is creating a data processing center to catch up with adversaries that have an arsenal of hypersonic missiles.
“This approach will speed up innovation and development of these systems, keeping North Dakota and the U.S. competitive in the fast-evolving drone technology sector,” Executive Director of the FAA’s UAS Integration Office Jeffrey Vincent said.
Hoeven brought on the Director of the Test Resource Management Center (TRMC), George Rumford, to Grand Farm’s Autonomous Nation Conference at Microsoft’s Fargo campus.
Rumford said the data-intensive unmanned aircraft system will keep its focus on cybersecurity.
“All of our test events – we’re very concerned about that data and the protection of that data and maintaining custody of that data,” Rumford said. “That is why Sky Range needs to have a secure facility to protect that information. The skillsets of cyber professionals are very important and needed for our nation. We need to expand those capabilities.”
TRMC will use the North Dakota National Guard’s 119th Wing’s MQ-9 Reaper operations center.
As a member of the Senate Military Construction Appropriations Committee, Hoeven helped speed up the process by securing $17.5 million for a new operations center for the 119th wing. It would give more space for the hypersonic missile testing program, where Hoeven said data scientists can access terabytes of information.
“These things go so fast,” Hoeven said. “We line up naval ships in the ocean and we test it. So, there they are in the ships, in the Atlantic or Pacific. They have to line up all their ships, and when that hypersonic missile goes over, they try to track it and determine if it’s performing as it’s supposed to, or not. It’s very cumbersome – a very expensive way to do it and guess what? Our adversaries like the Chinese and Russians, they know when we’re going to test. They can track what we’re doing, too.”
Hoeven said operations in Fargo should start in 2025
